Calling of Kurai
by Nintendocat
Summary: Postmovie. Everything seems routine for the Mustangtachi until monsters appear and several murders occur. Also, several women disappear without a trace. Will they be able to solve this mystery, or will this case hit closer to home than comfortable?
1. Chapter 1

Calling of Kurai  
Chapter 1: It all begins

Disclaimer: All rights go to_ (c) Hiromu Arakawa: the _author, artist, and genius behind FMA.

I'm very proud of this fic. I believe that, between my brother and me, this is a very good plot. I am also proud to say that I think I did a good job of keeping everyone in character. This fic has **POST-MOVIE SPOILERS**, meaning that if you haven't seen the movie, or at least the end of the series, and don't want things spoiled, don't read this. Even if you haven't seen the end however, none of the spoilers are too big and are pretty much taken care of in the first part of this chapter. (With the exception of another tiny one in a later chapter.)

Warning: Later chapters in this fic will contain what may be seen as graphic imagery.

Anyway, this being my first fic, I hope you enjoy it.

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It was a cool, fall day outside the office window Roy Mustang stood by. The multi-colored leaves gently drifted side to side with each gust of wind before settling on the ground. It wasn't too cold, but every now and then he noticed that the people on the streets would pull their coats tighter giving him reason to believe that the wind had a bit of bite to it.

He looked at his reflection contemplating whether or not he should trim his hair a bit. He hadn't cut it since he left the military after his fight with King Bradley. It now went a good inch past his right eye, the other covered by a large, black patch. After the he had taken control of the events in Central, the higher-ups had offered his previous position as colonel again. He had gladly accepted it happy to be working with his troop again.

"Colonel." A sharp, yet kind voice brought him out of his thoughts and back to the room. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye held out a mug of fresh brewed tea for him.

"Ah, thank you, Lieutenant." He took the mug from her and sipped it before sitting down and getting back to the previously neglected work on his desk. He looked at the document for awhile before moving the hair out of his eye with a quick huff. A small cough which sounded suspiciously liked a choked laugh brought his eyes back up to Riza. Though her expressions were serious as usual her eyes were clearly laughing at him. "You're laughing at me."

"Of course not, sir, however you do seem to be having problems with your hair getting in your eye."

Roy quickly sighed. "Yeah, I'm going to trim it to the length it used to be. Hopefully it won't get in my eye as much.

"That would probably be a good idea." Riza replied this time favoring him with a small smile before turning back to return to her desk.

Roy looked around the room. It was a slow day and Roy, being so generous, had given everyone an extended break. Havoc and Breda were out of the room, Falman was quietly reading a newspaper at his desk, and Fuery was messing with some wires in a small radio. Riza had returned from the practice range about ten minutes ago to feed Black Hayate, her loyal dog, who was now sleeping contently next to her desk. She sat down and picked up a small novel, since she had already finished all her work. Roy tried his hardest to see what book she was reading, but between the distance, the print, and his hair, couldn't make out the title. Shaking his head, he returned to his work.

A sharp burst of laughter in the hallway interrupted the quiet of the room. Havoc entered, laughing loudly, followed by Breda, looking insulted.

"I'm telling you, it's true." Breda stated, obviously trying to get Havoc to believe him.

"Are you telling me that you believe there's some kind of metal eating monster roaming the streets at night?" Havoc burst into laughter again. "What kind of sap do you take me for? You can't scare me with such a simple story. I mean how…" He was interrupted by Falman reading the paper aloud."

"Top Story: Strange Occurrences." Falman stood before continuing with the article. "People are in a panic over what is said to be some kind of creature that consumes large amounts of metal. Reports of missing waste receptacles, gates, even cars either half destroyed or completely missing have increased by 80 in the past week alone." He walked over towards the door so that Havoc and Breda could both see the article as well. "Authorities believe that this could possibly just be the work of a prankster or a rouge alchemist, but still ask that all civilians remain indoors at night until the culprit is apprehended."

Once again quiet filled the room, only to be broken a few seconds later by Fuery's trembling voice.

"Entire gates and cars just disappear as if they were eaten." He quickly turned to look at Roy. "Do you really think it's a monster, Colonel?"

Roy looked up with a bored expression clearly written on his face. "If anything it's some kind of alchemist playing some kind of prank." He looked back down at his work before softly adding. "Monsters only showed up back when the Elric Brothers were still around."

Quiet filled the room once again. Just two months ago, the city had been in an earthquake. Shortly after, armored soldiers from the other side of the gate had started to attack Central headquarters. The military tried their best to keep them at bay while Roy went to assist Alphonse Elric, who had joined up with his older brother Edward, who had been of the other side for two years. After the battle both brothers disappeared back to the other side. There was little chance that the brothers would ever be coming back. One could be happy knowing that they were finally together again, but it was still sad for those who had to carry on without them.

Deciding that the atmosphere was getting a little depressing, Breda punched Havoc in the shoulder. "See, what'd I tell you?"

"You told me that a giant monster was going around eating things." Havoc took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips as he fumbled around for his lighter. "As much as I hate agreeing with the Colonel, I have to agree. It sounds like a prank to me." Finding his lighter, he lit the end of his cigarette and took a deep drag.

Breda about to argue back was stopped by Riza's sharp voice. "Anyway," she started, replacing the bookmark in her novel and placing it on the corner of her desk, "break is over and we should all get to work. We may have had a slow day today, but anything we don't finish will only get in the way tomorrow."

"Right, right." Havoc walked over and took his seat, followed by Falman who folded up his paper and quickly went back to reviewing his reports. Breda poured himself some tea before sitting down to do the same. Riza, who had finished stood and walked over to Roy's desk to review his work for any spelling or grammar errors. Roy looked at his watch to see what time it was before getting back to work.

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At 8:00 that evening, everyone except Roy and Riza finished and left headquarters for home or wherever they went in the early evening. Roy stood looking out the window again at the illuminated streets while sipping his tea while Riza scanned his last paper for errors. Finding none, she excused herself to take the reports down to be reviewed by the higher-ups.

Roy, content to taking his time continued to look out the window until he finished his tea. He once again remembered that he needed to get his hair trimmed. 'I could probably just trim it myself but it'd be nice to have a professional do it. I wonder if any shops are open this late.' Hearing the door open again, he decided to gather his things and head out. Walking over to the coat rack, he pulled on his black trench coat. He started for the door when Riza's voice stopped him.

"Colonel." He turned to see Riza behind him. She, too, had on a black trench coat knowing that it was getting cold outside. Her arm moved forward. Roy looked down to see a simple dark blue umbrella in her hand. "Here. You'll need this tonight."

"Why, because I'm useless in the rain and the metal eating monster might attack me?"

"Precisely."

Her quick response hurt him. All this time and he still hadn't gotten over her calling him useless. He hated feeling incompetent. Looking towards the window he saw the clear autumn sky. "It doesn't look like it'll rain tonight, Lieutenant."

"One of the things we've learned during our time in the military is that sometimes what you see can not be trusted. The weather may seem calm now, but all can change in the blink of an eye. My intuition tells me that you'll need this tonight." She held out the umbrella again. He gave her a small smile as he took it. She saluted, "Good night, Colonel."

"Good night, Lieutenant." He watched as she started to walk off, Hayate walking along with her even strides. Sighing, he took off in the opposite direction towards the main street.

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About an hour later, Roy stepped out of the barber shop. Walking home, he wondered why he wasn't as tired as he should be. Looking at his watch he realized that, despite the darkness, it was still quite early. He still had time the wander around shopping or get himself a drink, maybe get himself a date. For some strange reason, the idea didn't appeal to him.

Confused, he looked up at his reflection in the window of a darkened shop. He noticed that he had been doing this more and more lately. With his hair shorter, he looked similar to how he was over two years ago, with the exception of the eye patch.

However, he definitely didn't feel the same. In the past, he would go to stay out late, either going to a bar to drink or on one of his many dates. He would walk into the office late and sit at his desk that would be covered in stacks of paperwork. Then he would procrastinate by sleeping or looking out the window until Riza made him get back to work. Five minutes before the deadline he'd quickly get to work and somehow finish on time.

Things were different now. He had been going home early and actually sleeping. In the morning, he'd walk in the office on time, or early, and get right to work. He knew the others thought it was strange behavior, especially since he once got to the office before Riza. No one said anything though.

Looking deeper at his self, he thought back to conversations with Maes Hughes, his dearly departed best friend. Hughes had always been the one to pick him up when his nights became too much. After the war, Roy had nearly shattered many times. Hughes would always scold him.

'_Are you doing this simply because it's a taboo, or do you honestly want to kill yourself 'cause there are easier ways to do that than this.'_

'_If you want to reach the top, you'll need someone beneath you to help push you up.'_

Hughes had also scolded him for his personal life as well.

'_Look at you. Don't you even hear what people say? 'Oh there goes Roy Mustang. He's such a playboy. Women flock to him but he never settles down. It's as if he's trying to show off that he can do it better than us.' And they're right you know. You run around with all those women but do you even remember their names or even their faces. I'll bet that you can't even name three women your age that you truly know anything about.' _

Roy thought about it. He knew Gracia because of Hughes and, of course, Riza because she was always with him, diligently watching over him as he worked. He furrowed his brow. Hughes had been right; Roy didn't know much about other women.

When he went on a date with woman it was always the same. They went to dinner, maybe a show. They would talk about what was going on in their lives, but he'd never remember any of it. Why bother? After all it wasn't like he had wanted a relationship with any of them.

'_What do you see in them, a challenge of some sort? Is it all a game to you? Do all those women mean anything to you? It's as if you see them all as the same person wearing different costumes. Do you have any respect for them as individuals?'_

Why would he have? They were all the same; hanging on his every word, smiling and sighing, fawning over him. They would all lean on him as they walked, as if they would fall if they didn't have anything to hold them up. They all painted up their faces and did their hair just so, hoping he'd like it. They were all like porcelain dolls; he was positive that if someone were to push them slightly, they would shatter. Or maybe more like princesses being held captive in a tower. They wouldn't have enough will to stand up and fight. Instead they would sit, weeping as they waited to be rescued by their 'knight in shinning armor.' Pathetic. All of them. Absolutely pathetic.

'_One of these days, Roy, you're going to grow up and realize what you had been doing was stupid. You're going to look back and remember all the random women._ _That you've never cared for any of them one bit; that you used them for you own personal games. And that knowledge is going to make you feel absolutely sick.'_

"You were right, Maes. As always, you were right."

When did it happen? When did he lose all desire to be the envy of the town? When did he start to care about what kind of people he associated himself with?

"Maybe, just maybe, I have grown up, Maes."

Roy was brought out of his thoughts as a cold drop of water hit him harshly on the cheek. Looking up, he allowed a small smile to appear on his face. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the clouds gathering in the darkened sky.

"Speaking of always being right," Roy chuckled to himself as he opened Riza's umbrella to shield him from the incoming rain. Looking back at his watch, he decided that he might as well head home.

He started down the familiar street when he heard a loud scraping noise. Stepping off of the main road and into the alley, he carefully walked towards the noise. Pulling out his handgun, he peered around the corner. His eyes widened in shock at the sight.

A large, metal-covered creature, creature being the only word that came to mind, was hunched over what looked to have once been a dumpster. The creature seemed to be absorbing the dumpster into its body, making it grow even larger. It now towered a good four feet above Roy's head. The creature paid no attention to his surroundings or the pouring rain around it; it just continued absorbing the metal. Aiming his gun, he shot at the creature hitting it directly in the shoulder. However instead of going through the creature body or ricocheting off, it, too, was absorbed. Not even turning around, the creature jumped up, grabbed a wall, and climb out of sight.

Completely stunned by what was going on, Roy finally let out a breath and replaced his gun. Hearing what sounded like a strangled gasp behind him, he turned to see two military policemen behind him. Both wore expressions of disbelief on their faces, though the younger of the two seemed like he was about to pass out. 'How long have they been there? I didn't even notice them.' Looking down, the older MP recognized Roy and quickly saluted.

"Ah, Colonel Mustang. What are you doing here?"

Roy looked strangely at the man. What kind of a question was that? "I heard a sound and decided to investigate."

"Oh, yes, of course. That makes sense. Anyway," he cleared his throat and shoved the younger officer who was still gaping, "we need to report this right away." The younger MP quickly ran off to call for back-up. "You don't need to stay here Colonel. I'm sure you're a busy man."

"But," Roy started but quickly thought of the situation. Most likely the creature wouldn't come back again so there wasn't going to be any fighting. He'd just be in the way of the MP's investigations. Sighing deeply, he nodded. The officer saluted him again as Roy started off towards his house again.

Picking up a paper at a news stand, he looked over the article Falman had read at the office. What he had claimed earlier as a simple prank was now showing itself to be a real problem. He'd have to look more into it later. Noticing that the rain was coming down ever harder now, he tucked the paper under his arm, gripped the umbrella tighter, and started for home.

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Roy walked into Headquarters, glad to be out of the chilling cold. Climbing the three flights of stairs and walking towards his office, he let out a loud yawn. He had been up late trying to figure out exactly what it was he saw last night. The day before he had been quick to say that it was an elaborate practical joke, but now, he didn't know what to think. Shaking his head, he decided to get his mind off the subject anyway possible, like doing his paperwork. He knew he must be tired of thinking about the creature, if he was more than willing to do his paperwork with out prompting.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like he'd be able to escape the subject as he was taken out of his thoughts by a loud, familiar voice.

"No way! The Colonel? Seriously!" Roy could hear Fuery's voice before he even reached the doors to the office. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he drew in a breath and exhaled it. Putting on a stern face, he opened the door and walked in. Fuery noticed his superior and rushed up to him. "Colonel, is it true? Did you really see the monster?"

He wondered how on earth this news could have traveled so quickly. Looking up at the other gentlemen, Falman eventually stepped forward.

"I heard it from one of the MP's this morning, sir. They said that last night, just off of Main Street, you were seen shooting at the monster."

Roy sighed before looking up at his men, who had all gathered around him. "Yes, although I wouldn't call it a monster just yet."

"But Colonel," Breda broke in, "they said it was over ten feet tall."

Roy thought back to last night. "Yes, I suppose it was," he stated calmly.

"You act like it's not a big deal, Colonel." This time it was Havoc's turn to break in.

"I'm not saying that." Roy walked over and poured himself some tea into a mug. Sipping it he walked over to his desk and sat down, surprised to not see any paperwork on it. "Is Lieutenant Hawkeye not here yet?"

Falman once again stepped forward. "I believe she went down to pick up today's work. Although," he looked at his watch, "she has been gone longer than normal."

"Maybe she's checking on something or was stopped by someone." Fuery put in his opinion.

"Maybe, but I'm sure she's alright." Havoc started. "Hawkeye's a big girl and can take care of herself. Anyway, let's get back to last night."

Roy looked to the door, and then back up to Havoc. "Look. Last night, I went to the barber's and got my hair trimmed. Around 9:00 I was walking home when it started to rain." Roy was interrupted by Breda and Havoc laughing. Falman and Fuery were both smiling but refrained from laughing out loud.

"Poor Colonel. All alone in the rain. I'm surprised that you're so calm." Breda said while still laughing.

"I had an umbrella. Anyway, I..," This time it was Falman who cut him off.

"Umbrella? You didn't bring one with you yesterday."

"Hawkeye gave me it."

"Ah, that makes sense. I can't see you ever thinking far enough to take an umbrella with you when you go out on the town." Havoc's words were starting to anger Roy even more than all the interruptions. "Poor Hawkeye. It's hard enough thinking ahead for herself and her precious dog, but she also has to think ahead for you as well."

"What do you mean by that, Havoc?"

Havoc smirked at Roy before doing his best impression, switching between a deeper voice for Roy and a more feminine voice for Riza.

" 'Lieutenant, where's this month's financial report? 'On your desk, Colonel.' 'Where? I can't see it. There's too much paperwork.' 'Well, Colonel, if you did your paperwork, you'd be able to find it.' 'I am doing my paper work, but I need that report now.' " Havoc placed the palm of his hand on his forehead and sighed deeply, still pretending as Riza. " 'It's right here, colonel. See it says 'Financial report' in big bold letters.' 'Huh? How'd I miss that?'

Breda, Falman, and Fuery all stood to the side with worried smiles on their faces. Roy was visibly shaking with rage. Havoc was making fun of the other day when Roy had asked Riza for the financial report, forgetting that she had already retrieved it for him an hour earlier when working on a different report. After he had finished the earlier report, he had put it on the corner of his desk and forgot about it. It hadn't been as bad as Havoc was making it out to be, but Roy was still slightly embarrassed about it.

"Shut up! I'm not a child." Havoc was laughing again at Roy's outburst, but quickly calmed down. "Anyway, as I was saying, before you all interrupted me," he looked at each in turn before continuing, "I started for home when I heard a scraping sound coming from the alley. I went to investigate when I saw a large creature. It was about ten feet tall and covered with different types of metal. It was absorbing the dumpster into itself. I shoot at it but the bullet just absorbed into it as well. Afterwards it jumped and climbed up the building and disappeared."

The room got eerily silent after Roy finished.

"But," Fuery's voice trembled, "but you said that you didn't think it was a monster."

"No, I said that it's too early to call it a monster." Roy corrected. "It's too early to say what it is right now. If anything we should not be hasty and jump to conclusions."

Everyone was once again quiet. Roy looked at his watch again wondering what could possibly be taking Riza so long. "Fuery, could you go look for Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

Fuery saluted and turned to go when Riza came running into the office, out of breath. Everyone was shocked to see that she truly looked panicked.

"Colonel, come quickly. You're needed outside immediately."


	2. Chapter 2

Calling of Kurai

Chapter 2: Blood Stained Mystery

Yay, two reviews. That's enough for me.

Disclaimer: Other than the standard "I don't own FMA" bit, I would like to give a little warning about the rest of this story. This plot will be pretty dark from here on out. There will be some things that may be seen as graphic, such as gore and disturbing imagery.

Also, this story does contain OC characters, mainly because it's impossible to move a plot after whatever it was based on has finished. Don't worry though; I don't make Mary-Sues. Don't jump to conclusions, I have the entire story planned out and I do know where I am going.

Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoy chapter 2.

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"Lieutenant, what's wrong?" Roy stood up and immediately went over to her. Riza didn't often show any emotion, be it joy, sadness, or fear, but when she did, everyone knew that it was something to take seriously.

"A MP just found a severely wounded man outside."

"I don't understand. Why not just take the man to the hospital?" Breda asked not seeing why Riza seemed so panicked.

Riza, having finally caught her breath, looked up at Roy with her stone expression. "It's better that you see for yourself."

Roy nodded and quickly put his coat on before leaving the room, followed closely behind by his subordinates.

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Nothing could have prepared them for what they found as they approached the main gates. The man Riza had mentioned was in his mid-20s and of average height. Through his chest, just barely missing his heart, was a two foot long metal spike about an inch in diameter, covering his entire front and back with blood. With every pulse of his rapidly depleting heart beat, his entire body would jump and more blood would gush from around the spike. His eyes were wide open and seemed to be glazed over from the obvious pain.

"…He...e... lp…, he..l...p…," the man, trying to talk, was cutting off by his own gagging, blood pouring out of his mouth.

"Please sir, calm down, an ambulance is on its way," said the MP holding the man.

"Mon... mon...s...ter…Sa…sa..rah… he…l..p..." More gagging. More Blood. The man didn't seem to hear anything surrounding him. He didn't even seem to realize his own injuries. He reached out a hand towards Roy, his eyes seeming to look directly at him. Fuery took a step back; Falman looked away from the man's gaze. "Do… on'..t….S..ar..," Mouth still open mid sentence, pleading eyes still looking straight at them, his arm fell down to his side. His body stopped jumping, though the blood continued to flow freely.

The man was dead.

Roy looked at the man's eyes, still wide open as if pleading for help. He tightened his fists. The MP, gently closed the man's eyes and laid him on the ground as best as he could, the spike keeping the man's body up a good half foot.

Unable to take it any longer, Roy spoke up. "Where did you find this man?"

The MP jumped at Roy voice but quickly responded. "Just outside the gates about 10 minutes ago."

"Just outside… He came here on his own, in this condition?" The MP nodded. "Do you have any idea where he came from?"

"No, but I'm sure that there must be a trail of blood."

Before Roy could say anything, two panicked corporals ran up to him and saluted. "Colonel Mustang. There have been reports coming in from all over the city."

"About what?"

"There's been a body found near Main Street." That got everyone's attention. "Also, people have been saying that they heard strange noises during the night from the neighbors' homes, and when they went to look this morning, there was blood everywhere."

"Falman," Roy started barking out orders before the men could even finish. Falman straightened up, looking at Roy, "Go look for the trail of blood and see if you can find out anything about this man." Pointing to the two corporals, he added, "Take these two men with you. Fuery, get on the radio headset and wait for Falman to call you about anything he finds. Remain on back up and send someone to find me if anything big turns up." Falman and Fuery both saluted and left to do their tasks.

"2nd Lieutenants Havoc and Breda, go investigate the North area of the city. 1st Lieutenant Hawkeye, you're with me in the South. The rest of you," Roy said to the military personal standing around, "go gather as much information and report your findings to Fuery. We may have a serial killer on the loose, so watch your backs." Everyone saluted and everyone burst into action as they quickly went about with their orders.

Walking outside, Havoc moved up closer to Roy, making sure only those in their group could hear. "Sir, do you think this has any relation to that monster?"

"I don't know, Havoc, but if it does, then this situation may have just gotten even more dangerous than we could have ever thought."

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In the south part of the city, where the residences were, people were scattered about the streets in a panic. MP's were trying to get everyone under control, but things were getting out of hand so there hadn't been much time to do any investigating.

Walking through the wooden gate, which had been nearly ripped off its hinges, Roy and Riza carefully made their way towards the first house. Footprints from what appeared to be struggle littered the yard, still muddy from the previous day's downpour. Hearing a faint sound coming from inside, Riza took her gun out and moved carefully towards the broken door. Roy, too, approached cautiously before gently pushing the door open, splinters of wood breaking away, and peering inside.

Once again they were met with a truly horrible sight. The bloody body of a man, in about his early-30s, was leaning up against a blood smeared wall. His skull was completely caved in. The only more horrible thing they saw than the body itself was the small boy weeping beside it, also covered in blood. He kept shaking the body, crying for it to wake up. It was more than enough to make anyone's stomach turn.

"Take care of him, Hawkeye. I'll see if there's anyone else here." Roy said in a gentle voice, so as not to frighten the boy.

"Yes sir," Riza put her gun away and kneeled next to the boy. She pulled him away from, what one would assume was, his father's corpse. The boy looked up at her, seeming to just now notice her presence, and clung tightly to her uniform jacket, crying louder than before.

"Why won't daddy wake up? Why? Why?" Riza put her arms around him, trying to calm him down. It was like Hughes' funeral all over again. A child too young to understand what had happened to their father. Crying over and crying for someone to wake him up. "I want mommy. Where's mommy? Where did she go? Where did mommy go!"

The thought hit both Roy and Riza at the same time. Where was the mother? Roy walked into the living room, then to the bedroom. Everywhere he looked there were more signs of a struggle. Finding no one else in the house, Roy returned to the front to see Riza handing the boy to an MP to be taken somewhere safer.

"Did you find anyone else, sir? Any signs of where the mother may have gone?"

Roy shook his head. Riza left the room and went to go investigate the kitchen. Roy went back to inspecting the body. 'What on earth could have done this?' The man's skull looked as if it had been squashed between something heavy. Looking around, he couldn't find anything that could have been the cause. 'Maybe the murderer took it with him. But who could have carried something heavy enough to do this?'

Just as the thought passed, he instantly remembered the metal creature he saw last night. It had certainly been large enough to do this sort of thing. 'Maybe…,'

"Colonel, come quickly," Hawkeye's yell brought Roy out of his thoughts. Standing up, Roy turned to some of the MP's and ordered them to take care of the body. He then quickly went to into the kitchen to see what Riza found.

"What is it?"

"Look around, Colonel. Notice anything missing from this room?" Roy looked around the room carefully. Something was missing; he just could put his finger on it. "The icebox, the sink, the stove. There are places for these things, but they're not here."

He scanned the room again. There was a dinette set and the counter, but everything else was missing. Looking at the floor his frown deepened. "It doesn't appear as if they were moved anywhere." Once again, his thoughts went back to last night.

"Not only that," Riza started, opening a cabinet, "but I looked around and there aren't any pots and pans either." She closed the cabinet and opened a drawer. "All the silverware's gone as well." Roy walked over and looked to see for himself. A thought came to mind and he turned to go back to the front room. Looking at the broken door, he realized that even the doorknob was missing.

"Looks like that creature came here after our encounter last night," Roy said, sighing deeply.

"What do you mean, sir?"

Roy covered his face, shaking his head. "That's right; you were out of the room." He leaned against a wall; she came and stood beside him. "Last night, I was on my way home when it started raining." He looked at her to see if she had an 'I told you so' look on her face; she didn't so he continued. "Suddenly I heard a loud scraping sound coming from down an alley, so I went to investigate."

She narrowed her eyes a little. "Without back-up." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Roy nearly fell over at her words, suddenly realizing how stupid that was of him. He quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Of course I had back-up," he lied, trying to cover up how embarrassed he was at his actions. "Two MP's were with me." 'Well, it was true, mostly' he thought. He smiled nervously at her thinking, 'There's no way she'll believe that'. She just gave him a knowing look and sighed. Roy cleared his throat again. "Anyway, as I looked around the corner I saw a huge creature, absorbing a metal dumpster into its body."

"So then it's true. There really is some creature going around the city. And now it's killed someone."

"It's too soon to say for sure, but things seem to point in that general direction." He looked down at Riza's face. Her expression was the same, but her eyes told him that she was thinking rather deeply about the events. "Let's go, Lieutenant. We've got more places to investigate before we can be certain about anything." He pushed away from the wall.

"Yes sir." Roy led the way out of the house with Riza following close behind.

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"Ah-Ah- AH-CHOO!" Breda let out an extremely loud sneeze. "Damn it, I wish I grabbed my coat before we left," he said as he rubbed his arms.

"Yeah, well, when the Colonel gave out the orders I didn't exactly feel like saying, 'Just a second, let me grab my coat first.' Though I am wondering why I didn't grab my coat before heading outside in the first place." Havoc reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter and a new cigarette and lit it. After taking a drag, he returned the lighter and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's hurry up and find some information so we can return to HQ."

"Yeah, I'm all for getting back."

Turning the corner, they were approached by a panicked man. Just by looking at the man, one would assume he was about late-40s or early-50s.

"Please you've have to help me." The man, obviously out of breath, grabbed a hold of Havoc's jacket, nearly knocking him over in his haste.

"Sir, please calm down," Havoc grabbed the man's shoulders in an attempt to steady the man and himself.

"Yeah, what's the matter, sir?" Breda asked once the man seemed to have calmed enough to speak.

"My…," the man started, took a couple of deep breaths, and then continued, "my daughter. She's missing. Her name is Ruby. She's 19 with long, red hair and green eyes. Someone broke in and took her."

Havoc and Breda looked at each other. Even though they were supposed to be investigating the murders, this sounded too suspicious to just ignore. Havoc decided to ask into it more before deciding what to do. "When did you last see her, sir?"

"Last night. This morning she didn't come to breakfast, so I went to look in her room only to find these large, metal spikes sticking through the door." Breda looked to Havoc and nodded. While not a murder, this was definitely involved. "I ran outside to look in her window, only to find her missing."

"Didn't you hear the glass breaking?" Havoc inquired.

"No, the window didn't appear to have been broken into. It was more like the glass had been cut and moved out of the way."

Breda shook his head, trying to sort out everything in this odd case. Placing his hand on the man's shoulder, he decided to continue with the questioning. "Was there any blood in the room?"

"No aside from the window and the door, there was nothing else wrong with the room."

"Was there anything missing? Jewelry, money, clothes?"

"No, everything was there."

Once again, Havoc and Breda looked at each other. This case was getting stranger by the minute. "Can you take us there, sir?" Havoc asked.

"Of course. Follow me." He quickly started off towards his house, Havoc and Breda following close behind.

The man's house was only about two minutes away from where they were so they got there relatively quickly. The house was a medium size, giving off the impression that the occupants weren't exactly wealthy or poor, but more of a middle class. Just an average looking house. Normally it was the wealthier families that had their children captured, using them as hostages in order to receive a hefty ransom.

This didn't seem to be the case here. No one would expect an extremely large sum of money from this kind of place. Also, normally, the captured children would also be much younger, mainly because it was easier to control young children than grown adults.

The man took them to the side of the house where his daughter's room was. Below the window's frame was a single sheet of glass that had been perfectly cut and moved aside. That just added to the other weird things going on. Normally, when some tried to capture someone, they would just break the glass, but this looked more like the work of a skilled artisan.

Havoc carefully climbed over the window sill and into the dark room. Walking towards the door, he got a closer look at the spikes. They were identical to the one that had killed the first man. He then walked over to the delicate wire-frame bed, carefully examining it for any traces of blood. Seeing none, he started walking back towards the window to leave when his attention was brought to a picture of the girl and her family. He picked it up and took it with him, handing it to Breda before climbing back out the window.

"Sir, do you mind if we take this photo so we have an idea of what to look for?" Breda asked him.

"Yes. Please, please just find my daughter." The man pleaded with them.

"We'll do what we can, sir." Both Havoc and Breda saluted the man and left, needing to continue with their investigations.

After walking for a bit, Havoc looked down at the picture again. "I still can't believe some kind of metal monster is doing this. I mean senseless destruction, sure, but kidnapping?"

"I don't think it's the work of the monster the Colonel saw at all." Breda spoke up.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, sure it'd be easy to say it was, but if you look at it closer, it can't be. The window was carefully cut and moved aside. A ten foot monster would have just broken the glass, and probably the wall for that matter, to get inside. Also, everything was still left in the room. The other occurrences with the monster mentioned that large amounts of metal were disappearing. Yet the bed, which was made entirely from metal, was left perfectly intact."

"Yeah, you're right. There was nothing wrong with the bed at all." A thought suddenly stopped him in his tracks. Breda turned to look at him. "Wait a sec… didn't that man this morning mention a woman's name?"

"Hey, yeah, you're right. Sa…sar… Sarah! That's what it was." Scratching his head, deep in thought, "Maybe, just maybe, the same creature who captured this girl tried to capture this Sarah woman."

"And the man got in the way and was attacked." Both stopped and thought about the obvious connection. "Anyway, Falman's group went to check out that guys place, so hopefully, he'll find something. Let's check out the rest of this neighborhood."

"Right." Breda rubbed his arms again. "Something strange is definitely going on in this city, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to know what it is." Havoc nodded and they both started off down the street again.

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"Amazing. I've never seen anything like it." A young corporal exclaimed.

As ordered, Falman's group followed the trail of blood the wounded man had left. Heading north they had found several spikes sticking out of the street and surrounding buildings. A large pool of blood around a deep hole in the ground gave off the impression that the man had first been struck down here before making his way to HQ. After that point, the trail of blood was considerably less but still gave Falman a good idea of where the man had come from.

It could be noted that who ever it was that attacked the man with these spikes was not normal in the least. Just the sheer size and amount was enough to make anyone notice that.

Finally, they made their way to a small house just three blocks away. As the corporal had said, it was truly an amazing sight. The entire house was covered in hundreds, maybe thousands, of holes. Each hole was about an inch wide and went all the way through the house despite what material the targets were made of. However, there were no spikes anywhere to be seen. Also it seemed as if whatever caused the holes came from inside the house, not outside. Looking around, Falman found a window with the glass neatly cut and laid aside.

'Interesting,' Falman thought. Turning to the two men, he asked, "Does anything inside appear to be missing?"

"No sir. There are no spikes or blood either, though it does appear that there was a struggle."

Falman nodded and stepped into the house. Looking around, one could notice that the living room had been where everything had happened. On the table was broken tea set. Touching the spilt liquid, he found it slightly warm. He frowned. 'How long ago did all of this happen? Didn't anyone notice?' Standing up, he asked the two corporals to question the neighbors for anything they knew. Returning to looking around the room, he took note of a silver framed wedding picture. Engraved on the frame was the writing 'Richard and Sarah: 1916.' "Sarah? That's right, the man mentioned a Sarah earlier."

Turning around he looked at the table with the tea set again. "The married couple was having their morning tea," he looked towards the glassless window, "when they were attacked. Startled, they jumped up, knocking over the set." Moving towards an over-turned chair, he continued, "They fought with the attacker," moving his eyes to the door, "and fled before the attacker," looking around at the holes, "attacked them." He started towards the door. "The attacker must have caught up to them and captured the woman, leaving the man for dead."

Hearing voices, he walked over to the street. From his spot, he could see the two corporals taking to a young woman. He couldn't see the woman's face at this angle, but she had a somewhat pale complexion and slender figure. Her long black hair was tied in a low ponytail. She wore a long black coat over black slacks and a blood red shirt. It was odd, he didn't know the woman, but she seemed somehow familiar. He moved in closer to better hear the conversation and see if he could make out the woman's face.

"Yes officer, that's all," the woman finished.

"Well, thank you, ma'am, I'm sure that will help a lot with our investigations."

"I'm glad I could help. Sorry to rush off, but I must be going." The corporal nodded and she turned to leave, stopping when she found Falman standing behind her. The woman's eyes were a bright emerald green; her lips were a deep, blood red. Falman jumped slightly, realizing that he was staring and moved to the side. She smiled and made her way down the street before disappearing from sight.

"Warrant Officer Falman." Falman turned away from the woman to listen to the corporals. "That woman said she was out walking this morning when she heard screaming. She turned to see a man and woman, both in their mid-20's, running down the road being chased by a woman."

"A woman?"

"Yes sir. The woman was described as medium height, pale complexion, crimson eyes, and very short black hair. She was inhumanly fast and capable of shooting spikes from her body."

"From her body? You mean the spikes came out of her body, from her skin?"

"That's what the witness said, sir. It would make sense with what we have seen."

Falman nodded. If what the witness said was true, then that would explain the condition of the house. It still seemed odd however. Why did the witness not tell anyone what she had seen earlier?

The witness: why did she seem so familiar? "Corporal." The man gave Falman his attention. "Did you find out any information on the witness? Her age, where she was going, her name?"

"Yes sir, she said she was in the city for a short while, visiting, and decided to go out early to shop. She didn't give her age, but she said her name was Yamome Black."

"Yamome Black? Yamome. Even that name sounds familiar." He looked up as a thought hit him. "Wait a minute."

"Do you know her, sir?" the corporal asked.

Falman shook his head. "No, it can't be." Seeing that Falman was deep in thought, the corporal excused himself and continued to question people.

Falman thought back to his early adulthood. He remembered a young woman named Yamome that was a few years older than him living in his hometown. 'Impossible.' He looked in the direction the woman had left. 'It can't be her.'

'She's been dead for over ten years.'


	3. Chapter 3

Calling of Kurai

Chapter 3: No connections.

Disclaimer: Same as before, (Don't own FMA stuff bit, gore warnings)

To be honest I hated writing this chapter. It came out okay but it was terrible writing it, which is why it took so long to update. Anyway, hope it's okay.

EDIT: Oops, typos! I went through this chapter again and edited, but I don't know if I got them all.

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It was getting into the early afternoon and Roy and Riza, along with other members of the military, were still investigating the many houses in the South area. The biggest problem everyone was having was the fact that there didn't seem to be any pattern or purpose to the mayhem. Some of the houses would have entire walls missing while others would be completely untouched, excluding metal objects like gates and cars. So far, only 6 more bodies had turned up, but over 30 women were reported missing. There weren't any similarities between the missing women either. All the women were between the ages of 17 to 33. They were of different social statuses, backgrounds, appearances, and health. Nothing could be connected.

Though most witnesses claimed to have heard something, few actually saw anything that could be helpful. All the stories seemed to clash with each other.

"It was covered entirely of smooth metal and stood over twenty feet," One man claimed.

"No no," another man broken in, "it was only about ten feet with the facial features of a man."

"That's right; it looked like a man covered in metal, face and all. It held out its arm and changed it into a cannon!" A third jumped into the conversation.

"A cannon? That's crazy talk!" An MP said, voice full of disbelief.

"Look at my house; it was shot in with a cannon!" The man defended his statement by pointing at his nearly demolished house.

"It grabbed my Setsa in one hand and carried her off. Please, help her, please!" The first man pleaded to the officers.

Roy sat down for the first time in hours and rubbed his temples. The civilians wouldn't be much help in all this panic. Riza walked over and stood next to him.

"It seems odd that all this occurred during the night, yet nothing was reported until this morning, don't you think, Sir?" Roy looked up and nodded. "It does sound like it's more work of that creature though."

"Yes, I suppose all the missing metal would connect it with that creature. However, it appears that this creature can its size and shape at will. One minute it's seven feet tall and completely smooth, the next it's fifteen feet with the features of a normal man who can change its arm into a cannon." He yawned and stood up. "I'm going to call HQ and see if Fuery has gotten any information reported in yet."

"I'll continue investigating with the next house," Riza stated.

"Watch your back." Riza saluted and left to investigate. Roy watched her go before sighing. "Hopefully Fuery will have something that help us solve this case. The sooner we figure out what going on, the better." Roy yawned again and shook his head. His late night was catching up with him.

Walking over to a payphone, Roy called up Fuery at the office. It rang several times before someone finally picked up.

"I'm sorry, but due to current events we are not taking calls from outside lines," the phone operator said, completely out of breath.

Roy rolled his eyes. 'It sounds like they've been just as busy as the rest of us.' "This is Colonel Roy Mustang. Connect me to Master Sergeant Kain Fuery Immediately."

"Ah, yes Sir, I'll connect you right away."

There was a long pause before someone finally picked up. "Hello?" Roy was glad that he had been directly connected to Fuery instead of another random soldier.

"Master Sergeant, I'm calling to see if you've gotten any information."

Roy could hear Fuery sigh deeply over the phone. "Yes sir, we've gotten a lot of information, however I don't know if it will be of any help to your investigations."

"I 'm sure that anything you know will help us more than what we have to work with right now."

"Well, I'll start with Warrant Officer Falman's report first." Shuffling papers could be heard. "Falman said that following the trail of blood left by the first wounded man, they came to a house covered in one inch diameter holes. He believes that the attacker came into the house through a window and attacked by," he cleared his throat, "shooting spikes out of its body.

Roy turned that information over and over in his head. "O…k…"

"Sorry Colonel, it doesn't get any better. Falman said that the window that the attacker had entered through was not broken, but instead had been carefully cut out and set to the side. The man and his wife, confirmed to be the Sarah he mentioned, fled the house, unharmed. They ran down the street where the attacker shot more spikes at them. The man was hit and most likely left for dead, the woman is still missing."

Roy shook his head. This didn't sound anything like the houses he had seen all morning.

"Furthermore," Fuery continued, "An eyewitness was said to have seen the couple being chased by the attacker while out for a walk."

"Let me guess. It was a twenty foot tall man, covered in smooth metal, with a cannon for an arm."

There was a long pause. "Colonel is that what people have been seeing in your area?"

"It's not the same?"

"No Colonel, the eyewitness claims that the attacker looked like a young woman with short dark hair."

"A woman? Falman's report doesn't match anything we've seen down here." He paused scratching his head. "It may very well be the work of more than one attacker."

"That would make sense with all the other reports, Sir."

"What, Havoc and Breda's reports?"

"Well, actually, Sir, Havoc and Breda's reports are very similar to Falman's. The houses they investigated also had the windows cut out. They also found more spikes similar to the ones Falman mentioned. However, the reports from the other cities have very different stories."

"Other cities?"

"Yes, last night, East City had a lighting storm, knocking out the power for the entire city and setting over 20 houses on fire. Eyewitnesses' in the city claim that a man, about 6 feet tall with a muscular build, was the seen at the locations where lighting had hit. Also in North City, several people have been killed; some by chimeras, some by a bladed weapon. There was only one eyewitness and he died shortly after. The man claimed that there was a young girl, no older than eight, controlling the chimeras. She was seen with an older man whose face was cover with a cloak."

Roy eyes widened as he heard this report. He couldn't believe all this had happened over night. It didn't make sense. "Was there anything similar with the cases to anything we've seen here?"

"There have been several disappearances in both cities, all…," Roy broke in before he could finish.

"All women, right?"

"... Yes Sir. I take it you've noticed the same pattern here."

"Of course, it's the only pattern with this case, how could I not notice." He rubbed his eyes. Fuery had been right; this information did little to help. In fact, it seemed to make his headache worse. "Well, good work so far. I better get back and help the Lieutenant investigate."

"She's not with you?" Fuery asked, a note of panic in his voice.

"No, she went to check out the next house while I came to call you."

"But Sir isn't it dangerous to leave the Lieutenant alone?"

"What do you mean?" Roy, suddenly feeling exhausted, leant against the side of the booth and closed his eyes a little. He was having a hard time figuring out why Fuery was getting so worked up.

"Aren't you worried, I mean, all the disappearances have been women."

Roy paused, opening his eyes, as the thought hit him. Thinking about it logically though, he quickly shook it away. "I doubt the attacker is still in the area. Besides, Lieutenant Hawkeye is more than capable of taking care of herself."

"Are you sure, Colonel?"

Fuery still sounded worried. "Don't worry. I'm on my way back right now. I'll check back in later to see if you've found out anything else."

"Yes Sir." Fuery hung up, leaving Roy to his thoughts.

Hanging up the phone, Roy went to leave but suddenly grasped onto the side of the booth. 'I must be more tired than I thought.' He again tried to move, his steps unsteady.

Though Roy had brushed Fuery's comment aside so easily on the phone, he was actually a bit more worried than he let on.

'She's not with you?' Fuery's panicked voice filled his head.

Roy shook his head as if trying to shake the voice out. 'She'll be fine.'

'Aren't you worried, I mean, all the disappearances have been women.'

Roy gripped the edge of the phone booth, knuckles turning white. 'What's wrong with me?' His breathing was getting heavier and the world seemed to be spinning. 'Staying up late researching and then all this running around. It's not good for my health.' He closed his eyes, trying to clear his head. 'There's no one there to attack her. Even if there was, she's strong enough to defend herself.' He ran the statement over and over in his head, just trying to convince himself.

'Are you sure, Colonel?'

Roy heard a gunshot and opened his eye, suddenly panicked. The ground in front of the phone booth was covered in blood. Before his eyes, he saw Hughes falling down on the ground, blood gushing from the wound in his stomach. Shaking, Roy looked down at his hands, eye widening as he saw them covered in blood. The smell of blood was so thick, it all seemed so real. He quickly covered his face trying to block out the images. 'This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real.'

Suddenly, everything stopped. Opening his eye, he looked at his hands and then to the ground. He found both to be clean of any physical blood.

Shortly after Hughes' death, Roy would have nightmares about his subordinates dying. He could be wide awake and still see them dying, right before his eyes. He realized that he didn't want any of them to die before he did. He made a promise to himself: As long as he was alive, they would be alive; he would make sure of it.

Hearing another gunshot, Roy's head snapped up. "Damn it. You better be safe, Lieutenant." He quickly took off, hoping that everything would turn out okay.

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About a minute after Roy left, Riza was found by a Sergeant. He told her that a neighborhood closer to Main Street had been also been attacked but the method was very different. Riza suggested that they wait for Roy, but he said that the situation was urgent, so she decided to go ahead.

Reaching the neighborhood, her eyes widened. The lampposts, the houses, the trees: they were all covered in what looked like spider web. There were also several bodies, some moving, some not, covered as well. Riza's eyes scanned the area, trying to see if she could recognize anyone, but it was impossible. Reaching out to examine the web closer, she was stopped by the sergeant.

"Wait!" Riza pulled back her hand and looked at him. "The web is very strong. If you touch it, you won't be able to free yourself easily." He pointed to a small gate that led to a house. "If you'll follow me this way, Lieutenant, I'll show you the inside."

While most of the officers continued trying to find a way to remove the web from the road and examine the bodies for survivors, Riza and the sergeant entered gate and carefully walked up to the house, doing their best to avoid the web. Another officer, a young corporal, was already examining the outside of the house. He turned and saluted to his superiors.

"Thank you for coming, First Lieutenant."

"What seems to be the problem here, Corporal?" Riza asked.

"According to the couple next door," he gestured to the house on the left, "they received a call from the man living here. He was pleading for help when the phone disconnected. Fearing for the man's life they came out to see what was wrong, but couldn't find him anywhere in the house."

"Couple…," Riza thought about this a moment before turning back to him, "Is the woman still here?"

"Yes."

"How old are they?"

"I'd say somewhere in the late 50's."

Riza eyes narrowed. 'Then the attackers did have some sort of preference to who they captured.'

The Sergeant stepped forward and carefully opened the door. "Let's go in and see if we can find anything." Riza nodded, took her gun out, and walked in. The Sergeant followed with the young Corporal close behind.

The people who lived here were obviously wealthy. The floors were made of smooth marble and diamond chandeliers dangled from the twelve foot high ceilings. However, despite the amount of expensive things, nothing seemed to have been taken.

The house was disturbingly quiet. The young Corporal started trembling and took out his gun, ready for anything. Riza moved quietly from the foyer into the main living room. Looking around there were no signs of an attack to be seen. It was strange to say the least. A gunshot sounded and she quickly turned to look at the panting Corporal.

The Sergeant moved forward grabbing the gun from the obviously terrified man. "What's wrong with you?"

"I felt something touch my shoulder."

"There's nothing in here to touch you besides us. Don't go off shooting your gun at random things."

"I swear something touched me. What if it's the attacker, or…. or a g..g.host?"

The Sergeant gave out an exasperated sigh, "Look around. It was probably the wind or the curtains or,"

Riza's steady voice interrupted him, "A spider." Both men looked from her to the place on the floor that she was pointing to. A spider, about two inches big, crawling across the floor.

The Sergeant gave an annoyed glare at the blushing Corporal, who gave a sigh of relief. Riza turned and started for the next room as the two men started talking again.

"You don't think that little spider has anything to do with the web outside, do you?" The Sergeant asked aloud to no one.

"Little!" The Corporal's panicked voice caught his attention. "That thing's huge!"

The older man laughed at him. "If you're scared of it, kill it."

"No way, it'll bite me. You do it."

"How old are you? Just step on it or something."

"No, keep it away."

Riza turned, aimed her gun, and shot the spider, killing it instantly. She then turned and continued to move through the house, as if nothing had happened, leaving the two startled men behind.

They both looked at each other, and then started to look around as well, staying a bit behind Riza.

Riza moved through the hall, carefully peering into each room she passed before moving on to the next. The next room she found was a study. Looking in and not seeing anything, she was about to move on but stopped. Something seemed odd about the room that she just couldn't ignore. She walked inside and moved to the desk. Neatly stacked paperwork sat on the desk along with some letter that had been written and moved to the side. Riza smiled, thinking about how different this desk was from Roy's. Her smile left her face as her eyes drifted to a picture near a small lamp.

Picking up the picture, she noticed that it was of a woman in her mid 30's wearing a delicate and expensive looking dress. Riza looked at the woman's smiling face as she thought back to the earlier homes. 'The woman next door was left alone, but the woman here is missing. What possible reason could these disappearances be for?'

Her thoughts were interrupted as a drop of blood hit the frame. Riza's eyes widened as she slowly lifted her head up to see the horrific sight that had been above her the entire time.

A man, terrified eyes wide open, was covered in web that stuck him to the ceiling. His arm had come free and blood was dripping down it. The man's weight caused the rest of the web to tear from the ceiling and his body to fall, directly onto her. About to push the man off her, he groaned in pain. He was still alive.

"You're…," seeing the wound on the man's stomach; she pulled off her uniform jacket and tried to stop the bleeding as much as possible. "Hold on, sir. We'll get you to the hospital as quickly as possible." She reached out and tried to remove some of the web from the man's face so he could breathe better.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, I thought I heard something…" The Sergeant, who had just came into the room, stopping talking at the sight of the man. "Ah, I go send for help, Lieutenant."

"Yes, please do." Riza continued to remove the web.

The man looked up at her gratefully. He opened his mouth and coughed out, "Thank… you…"

"You're welcome. Do you remember anything, sir?

The man nodded. "Wo…man…, Tanyia…. gone…," he said before coughing some more.

"Your wife?" The man nodded. "Please rest sir. Help will come soon."

The man smiled to her though Riza could tell that he was still in a lot of pain, both physical and emotional. Her jacket was now covered in blood, but the blood itself had stopped flowing as freely as before. She smiled. Though this situation was dire, it showed hope for the future.

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Roy had arrived at the neighborhood where he had last seen Riza, but she was nowhere to be seen. Asking around, one of the soldiers said that she had gone off towards Main Street with a Sergeant. Roy got into a car and drove to where the officer said she had gone. He eventually came to a street covered in web. Getting out of the car he looked around, spotting some officers to the side.

"What happened here?" He asked a soldier.

"There were ten bodies caught in the web, all men. Two are still alive, though unconscious. The others were already dead."

Roy's frown deepened as he looked at the bodies. "No eyewitnesses then?"

"Yes sir, one." Roy's snapped his head up, looking at the officer. "Lieutenant Hawkeye found a man who had seen the attacker, but he's badly injured."

Suddenly remembering why he had rushed over so quickly, Roy asked the officer, "Where is she?" At the man's confused gaze, Roy added, "Lieutenant Hawkeye. Where is she?"

The officer pointed towards an ambulance down the street. Roy thanked him and quickly walked towards the car to see if she was still there. Reaching the car, he found a man being treated by some workers. He looked around the car until his gaze landed on Riza's blood-stained jacket. Panic filled him and he desperately looked around trying to find her. He sighed in relief as he noticed her standing by a wall, addressing some soldiers. Having removed her ruined jacket, she was down to her tight, high collar, brown shirt. 'It's freezing out here but she doesn't even seem to be bothered.'

"Lieutenant," Riza's eyes snapped over to Roy as he walked over, "here you are. I've been looking everywhere. I was so worried," he sighed but noticed her questioning look. "What?"

"Are you feeling okay sir?"

Roy nearly fell over at the statement, but caught himself. "I heard a gun go off and then I saw your jacket. I thought something had happened."

"The Corporal," she pointed to the officer before continuing, "felt something touch his shoulder and fired his gun. It turned out to just be a spider."

"But, I heard two shots."

"Unlike the Corporal, I don't miss sir." Roy noticed that the two soldiers paled slightly.

"You… you shot the spider?"

"Yes sir." She stated it so simply that the men paled further. "Afterwards, a web-covered man hanging from the ceiling fell on me. I took off my jacket and pressed it against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding."

"Ah, I see. That explains a lot."

"Sorry I made you worry, sir."

"It's alright. Anyway, let's go back to HQ and see if we can sort any of this mess."

"Yes sir." As she turned to walk to the car, she felt a coat being placed on her shoulders. "Sir, what …"

"It's freezing out here. You'll get sick if you don't cover up more." Noticing that she was about to refuse, he added, "I won't take no for an answer. Think of it as payment for the umbrella." Smiling, he turned and started for the car.

Riza sighed, and then nodded. "Thank you, sir." She pulled the coat tighter and followed him.

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Continuing with their part of the investigations, Havoc and Breda counted a total of 3 murders and 27 women missing. The houses they had been in had obviously been attacked by the same person, spikes being a common clue at all the locations.

"This is getting tiresome." Breda complained. He turned to Havoc, "How about we head back to HQ and see if the Colonel's back or not."

"We could just call, you know." Havoc turned to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He smirked, "I'd still like to go back."

Havoc sighed and stretched. They had been working non-stop since morning and were completely worn out. "We need to find something more helpful before we can go back."

A voice behind them caught their attention. "Hey, watch it." A soldier cried out.

Havoc and Breda turned to see a soldier with a young short haired woman clinging to him.

Breda let out a huff. "Well, you sure like them young."

Havoc let out a laugh. "There's time for that later. Do that on your own time."

The officer kept trying to pull the clinging girl off him. "Hey, she grabbed onto me." Looking back to the girl, he added, "Could you stop, miss?"

The young woman smiled and rubbed her hand up and down along the officer's arm. "You're cute." The officer blushed at her statement. "But you know what would make you cuter?"

"Uh, what?" He stopped talking and started to gag a little, followed by several coughs.

Havoc and Breda both stopped smiling. The man coughed a few more times when suddenly several spikes stabbed through him from seemingly nowhere. The spikes retracted and the man coughed up more blood. He looked at the woman as his eyes started rolling back in his head.

She smiled cruelly at him, "I think all men look much cuter when they're covered in their own blood." She looked up at Havoc and Breda, both nearly paralyzed with fear, and dropped the now dead officer to the ground. Her smile widened. "Yay, more cute men for me to play with."

Breda looked to Havoc while grabbing his gun. "I never thought the day would come when a woman said I was cute and all I wanted to do was run for my life."

"Look's like my luck with women hasn't gotten any better." Havoc stated preparing to fight.

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R&R please.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, Yadda yadda yadda. The original characters are, of course, mine (meaning that my brother and I made them up) being original. Don't sue, you won't get anything.

AN: I am so sorry. I won't make excuses about why it took so long for me to finish this chapter. Life just does what it wants sometimes, no?

As for the chapter itself, all I have to say is don't jump to conclusions and just sit back and enjoy it as much as possible. I do know where I'm going with this story.

Again, sorry for the lateness, and enjoy.

Calling of Kurai

Chapter 4: Beyond Comprehension

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"Who are you?" Havoc asked the girl as she started to approach Breda and him.

Smiling a cruel, wide smirk, she answered, "He named be Tetsu otome, but you can call me Tetsu."

"What do you mean 'he'?" Breda asked, trying his best to analyze the situation and stall for time.

"Kurai." Tetsu gave a twirl and in a sing-song voice added, "Calling, calling, Kurai is calling, souls of restless, souls of weak. Power, power, eternal power, eternal life for all that seek." Finishing with another twirl, she suddenly shot a spike out of her stomach towards Breda, who barely moved out of the way in time. Tetsu retracted the spike back and frowned, "What's wrong? Don't you want to see your blood?"

"Look Miss… Tetsu, right now my blood is inside my body, where it belongs, and I intend to keep it there."

Tetsu smirked at his comment. "Well, I think it'll look better on the outside, gushing from your chest, covering your body and soaking your uniform."

Havoc and Breda paled a bit. "….You are demented."

Shrugging, she held up her hand and transformed her fingers into spikes. "Maybe a little bit, but that doesn't matter right now. Right now," she smirked wickedly before continuing, "I'm going to have fun." Havoc and Breda jumped out of the way just as the spikes shot out of her hand and clear through the wall they had been standing in front of.

Hearing her laughter again, they turned to see her changing her fingers into spikes, ready to fire again.

"So that's how she does it," Breda said aloud to Havoc, slightly out of breath.

"Huh?"

Breda pointed to Tetsu, "The spikes. She can transform parts of her body into spikes and fire them at will."

Tetsu smiled at him, "Oh, cute and smart. I knew I was going to have fun with you two."

As she jumped in the air, Havoc aimed his gun, ready to fire.

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Sergeant Denny Brosh sighed as he sat down for the first time in six hours. "Another dead man. That's the tenth today." He looked over to Second Lieutenant Maria Ross as she continued to write down information about the man. "Who do you think could have done this, Ross?" Ross suddenly stopped writing on the paper, but she didn't speak. She seemed as though a very disturbing though passed through her mind. "Ross? You okay?"

"It's oddly familiar, isn't it?" Brosh stood up and went over to her.

"What do you mean familiar?"

"This large scale destruction, all the deaths. There's no way a normal human being could have done anything close to all this. It's almost as if we're dealing with the same thing the Elric Brothers were involved with years ago."

"You mean the people back at Laboratory Five?"

"Yes. Could it be that …" Ross didn't get to finish her thought as gunshots were suddenly heard in the distance. "Someone's being attacked. Let's go!" She started off in the direction of the shots.

"What? Oh, right!" Brosh yelped before running to catch up.

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Rolling to the side, Havoc ejected the bullet cartridge from his gun to load a new one. "Damn, nothing affects her. It's like she's made of Iron or something." He grunted in pain as a spike cut into his upper arm.

Breda ran over to look at Havoc's arm. It wasn't too serious of an injury, but it was still something to worry about. They were both covered in small cuts across their faces, arms, and legs: it was as if she was just playing a game with them, prolonging the kill.

Hearing Tetsu's demented laughter again, they both looked up.

"I'm having so much fun with you guys. All the others don't put up much of a fight. I haven't been able to kill many men with all the work I've had to do, but you guys are making up for it easily.

"Work? You mean the disappearances or the murders?" Havoc asked.

"Both." Breda stated, getting Havoc's attention before continuing, "The spikes, the cut windows, the murdered men." Looking back to Tetsu, he asked, "They've all been pulled off by you, correct."

"Only in this area of the city. That one guy took care of the Southern area, and while Widow said she was just going to look for information, I think she did some work around Main Street."

Breda's eyes narrowed, 'That one guy?'

"What about the missing women?" Havoc asked, "You didn't mention them."

She rolled her eyes. "I hate women. They're not cute at all."

"Then why are you capturing them?"

"We were told to."

"By who, this Kurai guy?"

Tetsu frowned and shot the spikes from her fingers. Havoc yelped and tried to dodge. "I hate nosy men, even if they are cute." Havoc tried to move away as she started to advance towards him, but found that he couldn't get very far. Looking down, he found that one of the spikes, about three inches long, had hit the cuff of his jacket and had him pinned to the wall.

"Damn it," reaching down he tried to pull the spike out of the wall only to find it stuck. "Hey, Breda, a little help here... Breda?" Breda was nowhere to be seen. "Breda! Don't abandon me here, you coward!" He tried harder to pull out the spike but only succeeding in cutting the palm of his hand.

Tetsu's sadistic laughter brought his attention back to the matter at hand. Grabbing his free hand and moving it to the wall, she changed her fingers into spikes again. Moving her hand away, the spikes held his other hand firmly in place. Havoc looked from his caught hand up to the woman smirking so close to his face. "Much better. You can't run away from me like your friend did." She traced a newly formed finger across his jaw line. "My, you're a lot cuter than that other soldier. Maybe I should have killed you first." Turning her finger into a spike again, she quickly made a small cute across his cheek. Flinching slightly, Havoc glared as she leant down and licked the blood away from the cut. Stepping back she laughed and twirled again, "I'm having so much fun, but," she held her hand up right above his heart, her sadistic grin widening, "I think it's time to speed things up a bit, don't you?"

Havoc closed his eyes, sweat pouring off his brow. 'There's no way to get out of this. I'm going to die. How…' His thoughts were interrupted by a blaring car horn. He opened his eyes just in time to see Breda jumping out of a speeding car seconds before it plowed into the startled Tetsu. "Breda! What's going on?"

"You didn't think I left you here, did ya?" Breda smirked and covered his head. Havoc was about to ask what he was doing when the car exploded. After the sound of the explosion died down some, Havoc returned his attention to Breda.

"Well, what am I supposed to think? Tell me when you're going to do something before you just randomly disappear next time." Breda just smirked at him. "And stop smirking! Who are you trying to be, the Colonel?"

About to comment, the sound of screeching metal caught their attention. Eyes widening, they saw a blood covered Tetsu pushing the car away from her. Breda reached into his coat and pulled out a grenade he had picked up earlier and threw it at her. Not knowing what it was, she caught it just as it blew up.

"A grenade? Did you have that the whole time?"

"Of course not, I picked it up when I got the car." Breda took hold of one of the spikes and began to pull as hard as he could. "Damn. Hold still, I'm going to go get help."

"Sure I'll hold still. Not like I have much of a choice in the matter."

Breda turned to go when Ross and Brosh ran into the street. Seeing Breda, they ran towards him.

"We heard gunshots. Is anyone…" Ross, noticing Havoc's state, ran over to help Breda pull the spikes out. Brosh looked at where the grenade had gone off before helping as well.

"What happened?" Brosh asked, still looking at the fire as he pulled on a spike with Breda.

"I blew up the attacker," Breda simply said. At their looks, he added, "She was trying to kill us; I didn't have much choice in the matter."

They both looked from Breda to the fire and then back to Breda.

"You ever hear of the term 'overkill'?" Brosh asked almost jokingly.

Havoc coughed at the statement, moving his now free hand up to help pull the remaining spikes out. "Overkill nothing. The girl deserved it."

"A girl? You were attacked by a girl?"

"Hey, don't you say anything. You didn't see what happened. She shot these spikes out of her body."

Ross looked up as they pulled the last spike out of the wall. "So it is like before then."

"Before?" Breda asked as Havoc checked his arms for any serious wounds.

"Remember those people the Elric brothers got involved with?"

"You mean Furher King Bradley and those people?" Breda asked. "You think this might be related?"

"I have… to admit…," Everyone turned, eyes wide with fear, towards the fire. A mangled form stepped through the fire. Bones could be heard cracking into place and the flesh re-healed over the visible muscle as the form slowly reshaped into the body an angry young woman. "That… REALLY hurt."

"There's no way…," Breda took a step back as Tetsu took a step forward. Brosh and Ross took out their guns and aimed them at her. "You should be dead."

"And here I thought you were smart. It'll take more than that cheap attempt to kill me again."

Ross moved forward a little, "So it's true… you're a homunculus." Tetsu gave her an annoyed look. "Were you involved with those at Laboratory Five? The ones who kept attacking the Elric Brothers and killed Brigadier General Hughes?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know anything about any labs or brothers." She transformed her fingers into spikes and extended them out until they were about two feet long apiece. "You fools talk as if there are only a few homunculi in the world." The four took a step back as she continued to approach them. "Do you honestly believe that only a few humans try to play God?"

"What …" Havoc didn't get a chance to ask what she meant before she interrupted.

"ENOUGH! I'm tired of this. You have all lived long enough."

"Um uh…" Ross looked around and quickly pointed off into the distance behind Tetsu, "Look, a Snipe!"

"What?" Tetsu spun around and looked behind her for the 'snipe'. Not seeing anything she turned back, "I don't see…," only to see that the four were gone. "Oh no, the snipe scared them away. Damn, widow's not going to be happy about this.

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"A homunculus?" Roy looked up from the paper he was writing to the four soldiers who stood before his desk. He had only gotten back to HQ a few minutes before when Havoc and Breda, covered in various places with small bandages, had burst in followed by Ross and Brosh, who just seemed to be out of breath. They reported fighting with a young woman, no older the 18, with short black hair that had the ability to shoot spikes from her body. The description matched the one Falman's eyewitness had reported. "You think a homunculus is in the city, randomly capturing women and killing men. You're joking, right?"

Breda stepped forward. "We're not joking, Sir. Other than the fact that she survived being blown up, she basically told us that she was one."

"Basically?"

Ross was the one to step forward this time. "I asked if she was involved with those from two years ago. She said that she wasn't and that we were fools for believing that there were only a few homunculi or that only a few people decide to play God."

Roy's brows knitted together as tried to comprehend what they were telling him. "Decide to play God…"

Riza looked up from her the report she was writing. "I guess that is something to think about." Everyone's eyes turned to her as she continued. "Surely there are more than five or six people desperate enough to bring back a loved one from the dead." She looked back down at the paper and continued to write. "Didn't the Elric brothers' Father tell you anything about the homunculi, Sir?"

Roy turned in his chair slightly to get a better look at Riza. "He told me that homunculi can't exist on their own, that someone controls them."

"Do you think it could be the same person, Sir?" Riza looked up and made eye contact with him. "These events are completely different from those we encountered in the past."

"Kurai," Havoc said aloud. "The person she mentioned was named Kurai. Then she did this little dance/song thing before attacking us."

Breda nodded. "It's an odd name, that's for sure. I wonder if it could be the same person.

Roy continued to look at Riza before turning back to those in front of his desk. "Havoc, Breda; I want you write down the details of what you've seen." Havoc and Breda saluted and quickly got to work. "Second Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh; I'd like to ask that you return to the city and continue the work you were doing before. Don't tell anyone what you've seen if at all possible. The last thing we need to do is panic people even more than they already are."

"Yes sir, Colonel Mustang." Brosh turned to leave but stopped when he noticed Ross hadn't moved. "Ross?"

"Colonel Mustang, if anything turns up, will you inform us?"

Roy raised an eyebrow at her question. After considering it for awhile he smiled. "Very well, if something comes up, we'll tell you."

"Thank you Sir." She saluted again and left with Brosh.

Havoc looked to Roy. "You seemed kind of hesitant there Sir. Is something wrong?"

"I was just wondering how many people are going to get involved this time." Everyone stopped their writing as he stood up and walked towards the door. "I'll be back soon."

Riza stood up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to report what we've found so far to General Hakuro." Seeing Riza walking towards him, he added, "There's no reason for you to come, Hawkeye."

"I know, but I'm coming anyway."

Roy sighed, knowing that he'd be fighting a losing battle to argue with her right now. As they left the office, Roy ran the information through his head, trying to figure out how he was going to explain what was going on. He knew he'd already be at a disadvantage, what with General Hakuro disliking him so much already.

"He has to listen to reason, Sir." Roy looked down at Riza as she walked in step with his strides down the hallway. "He knows that something is going on. He can't just say that you're lying and send you away."

"I know, Hawkeye." He sighed. 'But that doesn't mean that he won't try.'

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"You what!" Tetsu visibly jumped at the harsh tone of the woman before her. "Not only did you randomly talk about your mission to these strangers, but you let them get away?"

"But Widow, It's not my fault!"

"Yes it is. If you would have just killed those men at the start instead of playing around with them, we wouldn't have this problem."

Tetsu looked down at the ground, knowing that was true. "But… but if that woman hadn't pointed out that snipe I would have gotten them."

Widow paused before speaking. "A what?"

"A snipe. It was fast, too. By the time I turned around, it was gone. It must have been scary though. When I turned back, they were all gone."

"You …" Widow sighed deeply rubbing her temples, "are an idiot." She held up a hand before Tetsu could talk back. "You said that there was a woman with them."

"Yes. She was stupid, nosy, and demanding. I hate her the most."

Widow smirked. "Well, I think it's time we show these people exactly what they are dealing with.

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Roy stood before the desk of the General Hakuro, who looked Roy up and down with untrusting eyes. Hakuro still did not think much of Roy. Over two years ago, Roy had received the rank of Brigadier General by the Furher King Bradley. Shortly after, he arranged an attack in the north against the military. Hakuro had taken his troops up to fight against him, only to find that it had all been a trick to lure the military away from the Furher.

A few months after he had killed the Furher, Roy had resigned from his position and became a corporal in the far, snowy north. Hakuro had been happy to see him leave, thinking he'd never have to deal with the traitorous man again. However his hope was short lived when the armored soldiers attacked Central and Roy heroically returned to take control of the situation.

The higher-ups had been so pleased by the fact that he had returned and led them to victory that they offered him his old position of Colonel. Hakuro had been against it from the start, telling them that Roy would only cause trouble; that he'd end up turning traitorous against them military again. Lt. General Grumman had spoken up in Roy's defense saying that the Furher had been behind all the wars in the past; that Roy had to remove him from office or else there would have been more bloodshed.

In the end, Roy was allowed to return to his old position, despite Hakuro's wishes. Ever since Hakuro had found ways to make Roy's work harder. Sending more paperwork in his direction and making him and his men redo entire reports for pointless reasons saying things like 'you've used the wrong type of paper for this kind of report. Do it again.'

It was blatantly obvious that the General did not trust, or even like, Roy at all. It was the man's obvious distrust that bothered Roy. He had begun giving his report when Hakuro stopped him.

"A metal eating creature, a young woman who can shoot spikes from her body, an entire street covered in spider's web: these are the things you bother to tell me."

"Sir I…" Hakuro interrupted, standing to his feet.

"Enough. What makes you think that you can just waltz in my office and spout these childish lies as if it's the truth?"

"Childish… This is the truth, Sir. My men have seen these things, I have seen these things. It's…"

"It's nothing but a lie. You can't find out what is going on and instead of admitting to your failure, you make up this ridiculous story instead." Roy held his ground as Hakuro walked up to him. "Anything else you'd like to throw into this idiotic fairytale you call report, or would you like to tell me the truth?" Roy closed his eye and took in a breath. "There was a name mentioned by the young woman. A 'Kurai'."

"Kurai!" Both Roy and Hakuro turned towards the voice that had spoken. Roy jumped when he saw a man step forward from the wall; he hadn't even noticed him. He was about half a foot taller than Roy and had an average build. His dark hair was neatly trimmed and his sharp, black eyes seemed capable of piercing the hardest stone. "Are you sure the name mentioned was 'Kurai', Colonel… Mustang, was it?"

Roy shook his head and nodded. "Yes, that was what my men reported."

"Ah yes, I forgot you were here." Roy turned back to Hakuro who looked bored simply by the man's presence. "This is Colonel Kasai. He's from a part of the military in the far northeast. He came with some silly request for our military to help with."

"It is not silly, General Hakuro. My troops have been wiped out by the some unknown force. From the sound of Colonel Mustang's report, your problem is the same as ours."

Hakuro rolled his eyes. "I've already agreed to take some men up to investigate that town, but I refuse to believe your story anymore than I will his." Turning back towards his desk, he continued, "I will personally take one hundred men up to your city and see if we can find anything of value to us, though I doubt it. You, in the mean time, will stay here and assist Colonel Mustang with his little fairytale of a report."

"But," Kasai walked forward, "this is my responsibility. I need to go with you."

"You would only get in my way. I don't need any extra baggage to drag along." He sat down at his desk and pulled out some paper. "Colonel Mustang, you are to keep this man under surveillance at all times."

Roy looked from Hakuro to Kasai and then back. "You act like he's a prisoner, General."

"Until we get this mess sorted out, he is, though I do suppose leaving him in a traitor's grasp is a bit foolish." Noticing Roy's glare he smiled and stood up. "You seem upset. No matter, he will be staying here with you as you and your men clean up the city and find a real reason for these occurrences. Now that we are finished, you are both excused." He looked Roy dead in the eye mockingly. "I suggest that you get to work, Colonel Mustang." Roy, still glaring, saluted and left, followed closely by Kasai.

Just outside the door, Kasai let out a small laugh, "Charming man, isn't he?"

"Yes, if only we all could be as kind and thoughtful as General Hakuro, the world be a much better place," Roy replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. Seeing Riza stand up and walk towards them, he gestured to her. "This is my First Lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye." Riza courteously bowed to Kasai; he returned the gesture. "Hawkeye, this is Colonel Kasai, from the Northeast area. Now if you'll follow us, I'll show you the office, and you can tell us what has been going on."

"Very well, Colonel. Though you may not want to believe what it is I know."

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"Around 500 years ago, no one truly knows exactly when due to the change from the old dating system based on the Birth of Christ to the one we use now, a legend was created in a small village known as Fallen Grove. A man, by the name of Jonas Kurai created a theory using the forbidden arts of alchemy.

You see, Kurai was a doctor who saved many lives with his knowledge of medicine. Though he had lost his wife to an accident, he still had his only child, who always stood by his side and who he loved more than anything in the world. The villagers loved him and every day they praised him as a saint for saving their loved ones. Everyone was happy.

But that happiness never lasts, now does it.

A powerful sickness swept through the village and took the lives of many people. One of the lives taken was that of his child. He was so distraught from losing his daughter that he refused to leave his house. The people begged him to come out and try to help them, but he told them that he was busy researching a way to bring back his child. He poured himself into his alchemy research. He barely ate, drank, and slept for many years.

Then one day, he succeeded in creating an elixir known to some as 'the red water'. Using the red water, he formed a large stone capable of calling lost souls into it. No matter where the person had died, the souls would be called to the stone. It was as if they came hoping to be put to rest from their cruel fates.

Kurai used the stone and performed the first perfect human transmutation. Bringing his child back from the dead, he presented proof of his stone's power to the village.

They thought he was a god and they swore to worship him forever. Thus the Cult of Kurai was born.

Since then, many have traveled to the village, hoping to learn how to succeed in creating perfect reconstructions of their lost loved ones. Using Kurai's stone, they could call the soul of any person directly to them and create a perfect living being better than the original: a homunculus.

Yes, there were those that chose to perform human transmutations on their own. They would use the formula for human transmutation, most would die, others would lose apart of their body, but in the end, they would only succeed in creating a misshapen monster. They are the creations of those who decide to play 'god' and yet these false 'gods' cast them aside in disgust and fear. Most of these 'monsters', as some would call them, are found and killed as they plead for help. Others make their way to Kurai's homeland, where the cult still resides and gives new life and forms to these creatures, these homunculi, using the red water. The cultists claim that it is Kurai himself who names these creatures and gives them purpose.

There are others who learn Kurai's teachings and use them for their own purposes: Eternal Power, eternal life. They use their knowledge to start wars and create mayhem, all for their own selfish needs. Perhaps they seek to create the Philosopher's Stone, perhaps they succeeded. In the end, no one can match Kurai's ability.

Now, here in the present, these cultists still use Kurai's stone to call lost souls of the dead from all parts of the world, creating Homunculi with amazing abilities and perfectly attached souls.

"Calling, calling, Kurai is calling, souls of restless, souls of weak. Power, power, eternal power, eternal life for all that seek."

This is Kurai's promise. This is Kurai's truth.

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"That is the story, or as much as I know."

Roy sat behind his desk in the office. Kasai, having finished his story, was standing in the middle of the room waiting for a response. Riza, Havoc, and the others sat at their desks, some contemplative, some terrified, all quiet.

"Amazing." Roy stood and walked to the window and looked out at the soldiers lining up to leave with Hakuro. He frowned as he saw the arrogant man shouting orders. "To believe that something like this has been going on all this time."

"Colonel Kasai?" Kasai turned to Riza who had spoken. "How is it that you know so much about this cult?"

"Yes, I assume that it is a little strange that I know of these things. However it is easy to explain." At Riza's 'go on' look, he continued, "Recently, at the outpost where my men and I are currently stationed, we've been getting messages from Kurai's cultists. They were warning us to stay out of the way of Kurai's purpose. We, of course, had no idea what they meant. A few days later, we were attacked by the cultists. Many of my men died, but with the remaining men I had, I snuck into the city of Fallen Grove."

Fuery interrupted Kasai with a question. "Fallen Grove, you mean the village where Kurai lived?"

"Yes, though now it has become a small city of about a thousand people or so. While only a few are a part of Kurai's cult, many of the citizens celebrate his life as a holiday."

"Holiday?" It was Havoc who interrupted this time. "You mean that they don't worship the guy, but use his life as an excuse to throw a party?"

Kasai thought carefully before answering. "Yes, I believe that is one way to put it. The people of Fallen Grove hold a monthly festival, in honor of Dr. Jonas Kurai."

Riza, deciding to get the explanation back of track, interjected again, "You and your men snuck into Fallen Grove?"

"Yes, you see, the people of Fallen Grove, though not followers of the cult, do have records of their city's past. They are very friendly and kind and gave me a book telling me about Kurai's life and the beliefs that follow him."

"It's weird," Breda said aloud, "I've never even heard of this city."

Falman decided it was his turn to jump into the conversation, "Fallen Grove: Precisely 50 miles south of the northern border and 40 miles west of the eastern border. Due to its location, the city is rarely visited by outsiders. One must ride a train to the city of Silver Wick, and then travel by foot through the rugged Shori Mountains about 20 miles. After that, one must get on another train and to the city itself, about a half day's ride."

Havoc rolled his eyes. "Thank you o' great walking dictionary. Whatever would we do without you?" He said sarcastically before taking another drag from his cigarette.

Fuery sat forward in his chair, "But these cultists. They sound scary. What 'purpose' could be so important that they kill soldiers just to keep them away?"

Breda nodded. "It's something to make you wonder, right? What could it be?"

Havoc jumped up, suddenly looking panicked. "What if…," Fuery, Falman, and Breda all turned towards him, "What if… they're the ones who are capturing the women? What if they're going come up with some kind of evil plan to… to…," the three leaned forward some, "to torture us men by taking away all the dateable women!"

Kasai looked at Havoc unbelievably. He was about to say something when Breda jumped up from his seat. "Wait! What if these cultists are all women? And they're planning on collecting all the women into one large army and wiping out all traces of men!" The other men gasped loudly and all started talking at once about what the women would do once they took over the world.

Kasai turned to look at Riza, who had given up on even listening to the current conversation in favor of returning to her book. He then turned to Roy who was still looking out the window as if nothing was happening.

"These are the people you trust to work under you?" Roy, still facing the window, nodded. "You act like this behavior is normal."

Roy turned from the window to smirk at Kasai. "Something tells me, Kasai, that normal for us would absolutely terrify you." Again, Roy turned to the window, watching the reflection of Havoc chasing a terrified Breda with Black Hayate shouting about the 'women's army of dogs'. "And I wouldn't want it any other way."

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One week later,

"Clean up in the city has proceeded as planned. Reports from East City HQ, along with Central's reports, indicate that a total of 52 men have been killed, and 112 women have been are missing. The last report from the North City HQ states that all but 23 people were either killed or captured. There have been no further reports from that area. As far as information about General Hakuro and the troops he took to the city of Fallen Grove, nothing has been reported in." Riza finished up her report and waited for Roy to answer.

Roy rubbed his temples. 'It's been a week. Surely they should have sent word of what was going on by now.' Roy was positive, after hearing Kasai's story, that the slaughter of his troops and the events in the three cities were related. "Have there been any sightings of the attackers since last week? The metal man or the woman, perhaps even the one who's responsible the web we found?"

Riza shook her head. Everyone in the room was quiet. Tired from the long hours of work trying to find out what was going on. Kasai stood up. "Don't you think we should do something more? I want to get back up there and see things through for myself. That idiot doesn't know what he's doing."

"Colonel Kasai," Riza started, "I know that you are worried, but you need to calm down. We…," shouts from the hallway were heard, interrupting what she was about to say.

The door burst open and a panting Denny Brosh entered. His right hand covered his left shoulder, which was bleeding. "Colonel Mustang!" He ran up to Roy's desk.

"Sergeant Brosh," Fuery jumped up, "you need medical assistance."

"Never mind that," he yelled at Fuery before turning back to Roy. "Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Ross, she's been captured."

Roy jumped up from his desk. "What?"

Brosh panted; he had obviously been running for quite awhile, before continuing. "They attacked us again, in the north area of the city while we were investigating."

Breda, having gotten some water for Brosh to drink walked up to him. "They? You mean the woman who attacked us before, but who was she with?"

Brosh drank the water quickly before replying. "Yes it was her and an older woman with long black hair. We fought back as much as we could, but the older woman shot spider's web out of her mouth and hit Ross. Then she took Ross and climbed up the wall, like a spider. The younger woman hit me in the shoulder and then left with her." He covered his face with his hand. "It's all my fault, I should have done something more."

Everyone looked at each other and then to Roy. Roy stood up and walked over the Brosh, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, we'll get her back." He looked at Riza, "Hawkeye. Get me a map with the northeast area on it." She saluted and quickly found the map he was wanting. Taking it from her, he unrolled it on his desk. "We're going to Fallen Grove. Just us: we don't need to involve anymore soldiers. However," he folded his hands in front of his face, "we can't go as soldiers, if anything happened to Hakuro and his men, it's because the military was not welcome. We'll have to pose as civilians."

"Yes but," Kasai stepped forward this time, "Fallen Grove isn't visited very often by outsiders due to the difficulty of its location. Wouldn't it raise more questions if a group of civilians just decided to come?"

Everyone thought about Kasai's question. He had a point. If they just walked into the city without any reason, people would get suspicious.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance in that area!" Everyone startled at the booming voice that came from the open doorway. Turning they saw a large, muscular man with blonde hair surrounded by pink sparkles.


	5. Chapter 5

Calling of Kurai

Disclaimer: Don't own FMA. Arakawa Sensei does. End of story.

A/N: Okay two things before I start. First off, due to college and personal issues, this chapter was extremely delayed. I am very sorry for that. College is now over for the semester, so I should be able to update faster. Second, I accidentally deleted the fourth chapter, but have since put it back up.

Anyway, here is chapter five. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 5: The Dangerous Journey Ahead

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Kasai's eyes turned from the huge, seemingly sparkling man to the rest of the people occupying the room. They all seemed to have paled slightly as the man walked up to them.

"Colonel Mustang, I came as soon as I heard the news of this horrible travesty." Armstrong rushed up to Roy's desk, tears streaming down his face. "These crude murders and acts of senseless violence must be stopped. And now, even Lieutenant Ross has been taken by these monstrous creatures." Ripping off his shirt before continuing, he added, "I, Alex Louis Armstrong, am here to help put an end to all this."

"He took his shirt off again," Havoc breathed out in the suddenly quiet room as Armstrong made several of his famous poses.

Roy cleared his throat and gestured towards Armstrong while looking to Kasai. "Kasai let me introduce you to the former Major Armstrong. Armstrong, this is Colonel Kasai from the Northeast area."

Armstrong walked over and engulfed Kasai's hand in his own as he shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Colonel." Kasai nodded and tried his best to not look uncomfortable in the presence of the large man.

Riza stepped forward. "Anyway, what were you saying before, about helping us?"

"Ah, yes. As you know I have currently been involved with the redevelopment in the city of Lior. You could all travel to the Northeast area as members of my organization to help develop under privileged areas as a ruse to investigate inconspicuously."

Kasai's eyes narrowed slightly. "Under privileged? Fallen Grove isn't under privileged, it's just secluded."

"Yes, this is what makes it the perfect place for this kind of 'organization' to be run." Roy pointed out.

"But if we just walk up and say that we're here to develop that area, they'll just be insulted and turn us away."

"Maybe." Breda was the one to speak this time. "But maybe not. If we can convince them that we're trying to make a better connection between them and the rest of the country, they might let us in."

Falman caught on to where Breda was going. "I see. We might be able to convince them that we're planning on putting a railroad through."

Riza looked over to Kasai whose frown had deepened. He seemed worried but remained quiet as it was obvious that everyone else wanted to go along with this plan.

"So," Havoc started, "at night we'll do our investigations for the military, but what are we supposed to be during the day when everyone is looking at us?"

"Enjoy the festival, I suppose," Roy said with a sarcastic smile on his face. "We can gather information by asking about the history of their city." He paused and rested his chin in his hand. "We'll refer to each other without titles, to prevent people from knowing the truth." When he noticed Fuery's confused look, he asked, "What's wrong, Master Sergeant?"

"How do we…, I mean, do we go by our last names or our first or what? It'd just seem wrong to address you or the First Lieutenant by something other than your ranking."

"Maybe so, but in order to make this work, we must all act as if we know each other on a first name basis." To make his point, Roy walked around the room, pointing to Havoc, Breda, Falman, Fuery, Brosh, and Armstrong and in turn said, "Jean, Heymans, Vato, Kain, Denny, Alex." Pausing in front of Riza, he smirked playfully at her slightly narrowed eyes, "Riza." Moving on over to where Kasai stood, he narrowed his eyes a little.

Kasai jumped a little, "Ah, uh… Jo-Joseph. My first name is, um, Joseph. Joseph Kasai."

Roy nodded, "Joseph." Moving back to the front of his desk, he turned around, "And you will all address me as Roy." He looked around at each person before closing his eyes. Re-opening them, he moved towards to door. "We will join Armstrong's group. We will pose a civilians visiting Fallen Grove determining the possibility of furthering connections with the rest of the country. We will act as if we are complete equals, friends with common backgrounds, so to speak. We can work on our personal back stories on the train." Reaching the door he turned back. "We don't have anymore time to waste. We will gather supplies needed and meet at the train station in an hour. Falman, you help Colonel Kasai get ready." Falman nodded. "Any questions?" Seeing no one step forward, he said, "Very well. You're dismissed."

Everyone quickly left the office to go to their residences and gather supplies. Roy started to follow but quickly stopped and walked back to his desk.

Opening a drawer, he pulled out a few photos Hughes had given him years ago. 'Almost forgot these.' There were four pictures in all. One of him and Hughes, arms slung over each others shoulders with broad smiles on their faces. The next was of his wife Gracia holding Elysia as she hugged a teddy bear she had gotten for her birthday. The third was of Roy and his subordinates posed outside of HQ. As usual, Armstrong's head had been cut off. The last was a picture of Roy standing next to Riza on the day she had adopted Black Hayate. It was one of the rare moments Hughes had ever gotten on film where both he and Riza were smiling. Hughes had walked in on their conversation and taken the picture before they could realize he was there. After which he had shouted out his congratulations on the 'happy couple's new addition'. If the statement didn't get everyone's attention, the giant fireball did.

He smiled slightly as he quickly flipped through the pictures before sighing. 'It's been over two years. Two years since you came over just to brag about your precious wife and daughter. Two years since you called me for the sole reason of telling me to get a wife. Two years since you randomly popped in show off embarrassing pictures of our past. It's so ironic. At the time I wished for you to stop bothering me, to stay out of my love life, to stop showing me these pictures while I was working. And now? Now all I have left are these pictures.'

"Colonel?" Roy didn't bother looking up to see the owner of the soft voice that addressed him. He knew it was his first lieutenant. He heard her walk over to the desk and stand next to him. Roy closed the drawer and looked up at her. Her stone expression was softened by the gentleness in her eyes. Reaching out, she handed him his coat.

Roy smiled and took his coat from her. Pulling it on, he placed the photos in his pocket. "Let's go, Lieutenant. We've got work to do."

"Yes, Colonel."

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"Are we there yet?" Breda said as he leant against a tree, gasping heavily.

Roy turned about to tell Breda to stop complaining, but thought better of it after glancing at the rest of his subordinates. Everyone looked extremely tired. Though they were both keeping up strong fronts, even Riza and Armstrong looked like they could use a rest as well. Now that he stopped to think about it, he could really use a nap himself. The exception was Kasai whom Roy assumed was used to traveling this range and Brosh who was riding in the carriage because of the injuries he had received earlier that day.

Roy sighed. They had been traveling for quite awhile. After getting everything they needed together, they had all gotten on the first train to the town of Silver Wick. It was a two-hour trip so by the time they had gotten to the Shori Mountains, it was already high noon. A man with a horse drawn carriage offered to take them and their luggage through the mountain pass. They had since then traveled over the rugged terrain for over three hours.

Kasai turned to Roy. "We're almost there. If we don't reach the train station by five, we'll miss the train and have to wait until tomorrow evening for the next."

"Right," Roy said, "Come on everyone. We can rest on the train."

With a little encouragement, everyone got back on track and continued down the path. About half an hour later, they reached a small town at the base. Everyone removed their bags from the carriage and looked around. There was an eerie feeling in the air, something that couldn't be explained.

"Colonel Kasai," Fuery said, panting briskly, "What town is this? Are you from here?"

"No, the place I come from is farther ahead. We'll pass it on the train. This is a small town called Densha. It was built here solely for the train station that'll take us to Fallen Grove. In fact, the only residents of this town are those that work on and run the train."

Roy walked up to a shop and peered into the window. Blood covered the counter and floor. His frowned deepened. "Havoc, Breda," Looking away from the window to see that he had their attention, he continued, "Go ahead with Armstrong and take the luggage to the station.

"Yes, Sir" they both turned and picked two bags apiece; Armstrong gathered the rest and the three left to check on the train.

"Something wrong, sir?" Falman inquired.

"I want to check something out in here first. Falman, Fuery, Brosh: Check around and see if you can find anyone." The three saluted and went off to investigate. Roy pushed open the door and walked up to the counter to getting a closer look at the dried blood. 'It's been awhile since this person was killed.' His eye narrowed when he noticed gouge marks in the counter. Removing his glove, he ran a finger along one of the marks.

Kasai entered the shop and stood beside Roy. "These marks… Could they have been caused by homunculus with the spikes?"

"No," Roy stated simply. "These were done by a bladed weapon, like a sword or a dagger, a knife maybe." He knelt to the floor getting a closer look at the blood there. 'What the…?' Touching the blood on the ground, Roy realized that it was fresh. "Why is the blood on the floor fresh when the blood on the counter is old?"

"Perhaps the killer came back to finish the job," Kasai stated, "But then, where are the victims?"

Just about to answer, Roy was interrupted by Riza's guns cocking. "Colonel, look out!" He looked over at her in time to see her fire at the ceiling. He moved out of the way and looked up to see a lion-like chimera hanging from one of the beams. It was eating what looked like the remains of a human.

At Riza's gunfire, the chimera screeched and dropped its meal. Growling, it leapt towards Riza.

"Lieutenant, look out!" Roy screamed as he and Kasai pulled out their guns.

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Havoc, Breda, and Armstrong reached the train station and looked around. The train was obviously preparing for departure as workers loaded large crates into the cargo car, but there were no passengers to be seen.

Havoc walked up to the information counter, Breda and Armstrong close behind. "Hello. Is anyone here?"

A door in the back of the office opened and an older man, about 60, walked out. "More soldiers?" Walking over to the counter, he got a closer look at the three. "Haven't seen you boys around. Were you with that General that came through here last week?"

"No, sir. We just arrived a little while ago."

"Is that so? Anyway, how can I help you?"

"Well, we," Havoc started gesturing to Breda and Armstrong behind him, "as well as a few others that are still in town, want to go to Fallen Grove. When is the train leaving?"

"Train leaves at 5 o' clock sharp, everyday. You have about 30 minutes until it leaves. Are you going to the festival, by any chance?"

Havoc nodded. "That's right."

"Wish I could go myself, really. Some big event must be going on, what with all the extra people going this year."

Breda stepped forward. "Extra people? What do you mean?"

The old man smiled. "Well normally there'll only be a few outsiders you visit Fallen Grove for the monthly festival, but this year there's been upwards of a hundred passing through."

"What kind of people?"

The man thought about it awhile as he looked towards the train. "From what I saw, most were women. Just last week though, a group of soldiers came through. About ten of them stayed here, the rest went on to the city. Don't know why, really. Fallen Grove's a very peaceful town. But where are my manners?" Turning back to the three, he smiled again. "Did you need some help with your group's luggage?"

"No thank you, sir. Do we need tickets to ride?"

"No, tickets aren't necessary. From the looks of it, you'll be the only ones on the train tonight."

Turning from the counter, the three moved the larger luggage, which included their weapons, over to the train's cargo car. Afterwards, they went to a passenger car and placed the personal bags that contained everyone's civilian clothes.

Havoc looked over to Breda, "Do you think we should change yet?"

Shaking his head, he answered, "No, we have less than 30 minutes before the train leaves so we'll be better off changing later."

"Right." Standing up straight, Havoc turned to Armstrong. "We'd better go tell the Colonel how much time we have before we leave."

"Yes, hopefully Colonel Mustang and the others will have finished looking around by now."

Breda sat down and let out a sigh. "I'll take the torturous job of guarding everyone's belongings while you two enjoy the stroll though town."

About to retort, Havoc was interrupted by Armstrong, "Good idea, Lieutenant Breda." Grabbing Havoc by the arm, he started dragging him out of the train. "Come Lieutenant Havoc, time is wasting."

"Ah, I can walk on my own you know. Let me…," Havoc stopped his pleas when he heard gunshots. "What's going on? Hey!" One moment Havoc was being dragged by the arm, the next his was being swung onto Armstrong's massive shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Something is amiss! We must make haste!" Armstrong shouted before sprinting off towards the town.

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Riza narrowly dodged the chimera claws as she rolled to the side. Ejecting both bullet cartridges, she reloaded and pushed off a wall, dodging another swipe. Roy and Kasai shot at the creature from behind but it seemed determined to get to Riza. Riza aimed and shot it several times in the face, but it continued its onslaught of attacks.

"Lieutenant," Roy shouted, dropping his gun and pulling on his gloves, "try to get it outside."

"Right." She unloaded her gun again and started to move back towards the door when the chimera leapt at her again. When it made a slash for her face, she ducked into a low crouch and swung her leg kicking it directly in the face. With the chimera temporarily stunned, Riza made a dash outside. Outside, she found more cartridges on her belt and reloaded her gun.

Noticing its prey outside, the chimera followed, flinching only slightly at the bullets coming towards it. About to Attack again, Roy snapped his fingers, engulfing the creature in fire. Even though the creature continued to advance, Riza stood her ground, guns ready, until it fell over, finally dead. Letting out a breath of relief, Riza put her guns back in their proper holsters.

Roy ran over to her, breathing heavily, "Are you okay, Lieutenant?"

"I'm fine, Sir." Noticing his heavy breathing, she became worried. "Sir, are you okay?"

"Ah, just a combination of all the walking and the chimera attacking you, I'll be fine though." He smiled slightly at her and she looked down at the burnt, bloody creature. "You don't seem to be out of breath at all. Perfectly executed as usual, First Lieutenant." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he got her to look at him again. She returned the small smile.

"Thank you, Sir."

"A…amazing." Roy and Riza both looked over at Kasai, who stood in the door of the shop.

"What is?" Roy asked puzzled, then remembered that, even though they were traveling together, this was the first time Kasai had seen his alchemy and Riza's fighting skills in action. "Oh, right, sorry."

"You're an alchemist, I understand what you did, even though it was still amazing," Kasai started, as he moved forward, "But you, Lieutenant, you are incredible!"

"I was only doing my job of protecting the Colonel and defending myself." Riza simply stated in her stone solid voice, her smile gone.

"The First Lieutenant is our group's, not to mention the army's, best sharpshooter. Her skills with guns are practically unmatched."

"Yes but, even when that thing attacked her, she never backed down." Looking back to Riza, he added, "You are a very strong person, Lieutenant."

Riza gave Kasai a small, polite bow. "Thank you for your praise."

"I'm surprised you're not higher in the ranks."

Roy laughed at that. "Yes, I can see how you're confused. She certainly has the capabilities to get promoted." Roy decided to go back into the shop and look at what the chimera had dropped.

Kasai frowned at that. "Then why…"

Riza answered him with a short, simple answer. "I am satisfied with my current position." She walked past him and back into the shop.

Kasai watched her pass him and softly added, "Absolutely amazing."

Riza walked up behind Roy as he knelt next to what remained of a mangled body. Before they had been to busy fighting, but now they could clearly see that, when alive, this man had an officer from Central.

"Do you think he was with General Hakuro's troop?"

"More than likely." Noticing Kasai walk, Roy asked, "Are there phones in Fallen Grove?"

Kasai looked at the body for a few seconds, seemingly in thought, before answering. "Yes, but I believe that they are only used for calling people in the city, although I do believe that it's possible to call the station here."

'I thought so.' Roy turned back to the body, "He may have left some men behind in case something he needed to contact Central."

"If he left men here, then he should have been able to contact HQ. I wonder why he didn't." Riza wondered aloud.

"A chimera and a recently slain soldier." Roy thought about this a little longer before standing and walking towards the door. "Let's look around some more. Maybe the others found something that will help answer some questions."

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Falman stopped suddenly, alerting Fuery and Brosh. "Is something wrong?" Fuery asked.

Falman didn't answer but instead placed a finger to his lips before signaling to an alley between to warehouses. Moving down the alley, the three came across a slightly opened down. Inside, muffled voices could clearly be heard. Crouching, the three snuck inside and peered over a crate.

"Ah!" Falman and Brosh gasped out at the same time. Fuery looked at the two confused.

Denny pointed to the two people occupying the room. "The woman there, that's the spider-woman, the one with the long black hair."

Falman continued looking at the black haired woman. 'She's a homunculus, then? That would explain why she looks so much like Yamome from back then.'

"What on earth are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back with the Madame? Or perhaps wasting time with that child?" Yamome shouted at a cloaked man standing in the center of the room. "I'm perfectly in control of things here. Go back and do your own job."

The man laughed, angering Yamome further. "Control? That's odd. 'That one guy' doesn't seem to be here. Is he under your control?"

"Oh please, that mindless beast is far beyond anyone's control."

Through an open door, Tetsu walked in while rubbing her temples. "Damn noisy woman."

"Tetsu, you're supposed to be watching her."

"I hate watching women. Why couldn't we have captured one of those men instead? I'd have no trouble watching them."

"First off, if we had captured a man, you'd just kill it with your sick little hobbies. Second, you know very well the Madame's plans have no reason for any men. Besides, you may as well take her to the train and load her up."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I said so, now go."

"But I'm older than you. I should be giving you orders.'

"Older? You were 18 at the most when you died."

"I'm over 200 years old."

"Very well then, you're an old crone in the body of a loose woman."

"Why you little brat!"

"Little brat!"

"Ladies, ladies, please." The cloaked man tried to intervene.

"You stay out of this!" Both yelled at him before going back to each other. The cloaked man let out a sigh before leaning against a crate.

Falman, Fuery, and Brosh looked to each other before ducking out of sight again.

"Who do you think this 'Madame' is?" Fuery whispered.

"It sounds like she might be the one in charge of the Homunculi. I wonder what she's planning to do with all those women."

"They said something about a woman," Brosh started, before suddenly realizing, "Do you think they mean Ross!"

Both Falman and Fuery shushed him. They were worried that they may have been heard but the two women were still arguing, so they assumed that everything was okay.

Falman pointed' towards the door Tetsu had walked through and the three crept past the crates snuck inside. Once they were in the clear, they looked around the dark room.

"Ross?" Denny called in a loud whisper. "Ross, are you here?" Seeing a shadow in the back move slightly, Brosh ran over finding a gagged Ross leaning against the back wall. Pulling out the gag, he began to untie her. "Ross, I'm so glad that you're okay."

"Ross?" All four froze and turned to the owner of the new voice; the cloaked man from before. "Is that the name of this troublesome woman that those two are bickering over?"

Though they couldn't see his eyes because of the cloak they knew he was staring straight at them. His mocking smile put them all at unease.

"I can't believe you guys are so careless. Sneaking in, listening to a conversation, talking aloud," His smile deepened, "Did you really think you wouldn't be noticed? Careless, careless."

"Who are you?" Fuery asked timidly.

"I am little more than a lost memory. I know nothing of my living past other than I was torn from my resting place and made into this creature you see before you. They gave me an assignment, and the name Nos Rosuto," he held his hand up as if to say 'Ta-da' before continuing," But you, for the reminder of your lives, may just call me Nos."

Falman and Fuery moved in front of Brosh who was still in the process of untying Ross and pulled out their guns. "My, so loyal." Throwing his arms to his sides, he pulled out four knives, two per hand. "Stepping forward to defend your ally while he rescues the lady: It's just like reading a novel."

Falman and Fuery took a step back and braced themselves, taking aim as Nos darted forward.

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"Gunshots?" Kasai stopped as the sound reached them. "Where are they coming from?"

"Maybe the others found another chimera," Roy stated turning to Riza, who once again took out her guns. "Let's hurry, we can't waste anymore time." About to move forward, Roy noticed a growing shadow on the ground. "What the…"

"Colonel, move!" Riza jumped forward and pulled back on Roy's jacket just seconds before he got hit by the huge metal creature he had last seen over a week ago.

The impact threw them both back a few feet and, since Roy landed on top of Riza, the majority of the debris hit him squarely in the back. He grimaced slightly before quickly pushing himself up off the ground and reaching out to offer Riza some help up. Hearing a footstep, Roy spun around to see the creature begin moving towards them.

It was over ten feet tall and covered in a smooth metal. At some points the metal would ripple, almost as if it was a liquid instead of a solid. Roy moved in front of Riza and raised his hand ready to attack when the creature began to talk in a distorted voice.

"M..us…Must…"

"Must?" Roy asked puzzled.

The head rippled and began to form a more human-like face. "Mus… tang… Colo…nel…Musta…ng…" The creature repeated over and over as he continued to move forward.

Riza began to aim her gun but then lowered it know that she'd do more harm than good by firing at solid metal.

"Colonel…Mustang." The face finally formed causing both Roy and Riza's eyes to widen in shock.

Before them was one of the faces of their past enemies. His cold eyes sending shivers down their spines. When they had last seen this man, only half of his cruel face was covered by metal. Now it was covered.

This creature before them was none other than the former Colonel Frank Archer.

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End Chapter 5

Thank you for reading. Please R&R


	6. Chapter 6

Hi, sorry for the extreme lateness but I've been very busy with school and life and typing just didn't seem to have time to fit in right now.

Before I start I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. I love to hear from people who read. Anything makes me feel better and I like to know if people are enjoying the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. Arakawa does. As if you didn't know that already.

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Calling of Kurai:

Chapter six: Hatred awakens

"Ar…Archer!" Roy could barely get the words out as he looked at the towering creature before him. It was so hard to believe that at one point in the past this huge, metallic monster had been cold, cruel-hearted man who thought of war as no more than a chance to get promoted.

"Mustang!" Archer screamed both lifting his fists in order to strike.

"Colonel!" Roy finally snapped out of the initial shock to feel Riza pulling on his arm. Both ran, narrowly dodging the impact that would have easily killed them.

"Old friend of yours?" Kasai asked as he ran over to where they were.

"Hardly. He's…" Roy started to explain before being interrupted by Riza. Turning, he could see Archer transforming his arms into rapid-fire guns. "Get to cover quickly," he shouted. The three quickly darted into an alleyway narrowly missing the barrage of bullets that followed.

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"Ah-ah-choo!" Breda let out a mighty sneeze before rubbing his arms. "I wish I brought a bigger coat." It seemed that, while there had been chilly fall weather back in Central, heading North it felt more like winter.

He stepped out of the train to get a look at the clock. "Where are they? There's only 20 minutes left 'til the trains leaves." He sighed and looked around for someone to watch the luggage, thinking that he might need to go check and see what happened.

However he quickly realized that, while earlier the station had been filled with workers loading luggage and supplies onto the train, there was no one to be seen.

"What the… where did everyone go?" He moved further out onto the platform to get a better look around. "What is going on here? Wait…" he looked towards the counter where they had met the old man. "Damn. Doesn't look like anyone's there. Maybe he's in the back room."

Moving towards the counter, Breda saw the man lying on the floor in the middle of the room, unmoving. Panicking, he found the door and entered the room.

"Sir! Sir!" He reached out and shook the man by the shoulder. "He's dead. But wait…," getting closer, Breda covered his nose as the smell of rotting flesh reached him. "This smell, why didn't I notice it sooner?" Pulling back on the man's shirt, he saw that large portions of the body were rotting away. "This man… he's been dead for awhile. But how is that possible? He was just talking to us earlier." Jumping up, Breda moved back slightly.

'What's going on here?'

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Fuery fell against a wall holding his left arm, just above the elbow. The wound wasn't deep but it was bleeding rather badly. Hearing a cruel laugh he looked up to glare at the woman before him.

"My my, as much as I hate that woman, she certainly does have a lot of male companions." Tetsu giggled as she retracted a spike back into her stomach. "They're all cute, too."

At the sound of gunshots, both Tetsu and Widow had stopped fighting and entered the room to where Falman and Fuery were fighting the cloaked man, Nos Rosuto.

Widow ran over to Nos. "What are you doing! You know very well that the only reason that you're here is to move the supplies on the train. You can't very well do that while you're fighting with these fools."

Nos smirked, pulling away from Falman. "Sorry, I just thought that someone should 'chat' with our guests while you two were pointlessly arguing."

"Nevermind that. We'll take care of these two. You get back to work."

"Speaking of work, weren't you supposed to report to the madame awhile ago?" Noticing Widow's posture stiffening, his smirk widened. "I guess not."

"That's none of your business," she snapped. Nos, unfased by both her tone and glare calmly walked back into the main room and out of sight. Widow turned to Tetsu who was still teasing Fuery. "Tetsu, have as much fun as you want with these pests. Just make sure you kill them this time."

"Really! As much fun as I want!" She leered wickedly at Fuery who paled and moved back a few steps. "I can't wait. Your blood covering your bodies, the walls, the floors. I can't wait. I'm going to enjoy this so much!

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The sound of bullets stopped only to be replaced with Archer's monstrous yell.

"This doesn't make any sense," Roy said harshly while rubbing his face with his hand, "How can Archer be back? Who made him into… into… that!"

"Are you sure he was dead?" Kasai asked. "It may just be a form of alchemy."

"Impossible," Kasai turned to Riza who was currently peering around the corner, keeping a lookout for any danger, "I killed him myself after he attacked the Colonel."

"Then he really is a Homunculus," Kasai bowed his head as if in deep thought.

"But why?" Roy asked aloud. "Who is willing to risk death by performing a human transmutation to revive Frank Archer?" Roy ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "Who would have that level of skill and intelligence?"

Kasai looked over to Roy. "The cult of Kurai. Using Kurai's theories anyone, no matter who they were or where they died, can be revived as a homunculus."

"Aren't they afraid of rebounds? I've never heard of a human transmutation that didn't involve injury of some kind."

"I assume that the cult has so many followers that the leaders can use a few a pawns and then throw them away when they're done."

Roy looked at Kasai before glancing over at Riza who was still diligently watching the crazed Archer rampaging in the street. "Kasai," Roy turned his attention back to the other Colonel, "when you were researching Fallen Grove and Kurai's Cult, did you ever come across the reason why?" At Kasai's puzzled glance, Roy explained further, "What I mean to say is, Kurai originally made the formula of human transmutation in order to revive his daughter, right? Why would this cult create homunculi of people they did even know?"

Kasai waited a moment before speaking, "I wasn't able to get that deep into Fallen Grove's records, I'm afraid. However judging from what we've seen, I'd guess that the appeal of immortal, tireless servants that do one's every bidding might have something to do with it."

Roy thought about that a moment. It made sense that a small village could use the homunculi to further their development.

Wincing at a loud crashing sound followed shortly by a crumbling building, Roy looked over at Riza who was now crouching as if ready to fight or flee, depending on the circumstances.

"Colonel!" Riza yelled, jumping back from her spot shortly before Archer's fist crushed through the wall scattering dust and debris around her.

"Hawkeye, are you okay!" Roy asked, panic evident in his voice. He scanned the area quickly but the dust clouding the air was making it hard to see if she was alright.

He let out a sigh of relief when she jumped out of the cloud coughing, but okay. Catching himself quickly, he held out his hand ready to attack.

"Wait," Kasai said holding out his hand toward Roy.

Roy looked towards Kasai only to find the Colonel still looking towards the now clearing dust. Archer was now standing directly behind Riza glaring at her intently.

"Hawk…eye…," He threw his arms in the air before raging again, "Hawkeye!" Archer through his fists into the surrounding buildings causing them to shake violently.

"That fool, he's completely lost it." Kasai cursed before turning to Roy, "Colonel Mustang, we've got to retreat before these building crush us!"

Roy nodded them signaled to Riza. "Lieutenant, pull back."

Riza slowly started towards Roy but her movement quickly caught Archer's attention. Yelling again, he started charging, while dragging his fists through the buildings causing pieces of rubble to shower from overhead. The three fled just seconds before the two building crashed to the ground in a heap of debris and a cloud of dust.

"Just great," Roy muttered as they ran, knowing that Archer was most likely unscathed, "Not only has Archer been made into a homunculus and targeted and identified me, he's now set his eyes on you, First Lieutenant."

Kasai smirked before adding, "Yes, it seems that his immense hatred of you two has overridden the very orders he was created to fulfill."

Riza narrowed her eyes at Kasai mirth, "Charming way of putting it, Colonel Kasai." Kasai noticed how her sharp eyes seem to analyze him even while they were running for their lives and quickly muttered an apology.

Reaching another street, they stopped to catch their breaths.

"Colonel Mustang," Kasai started once he could talk again, "we need to get to the station before the train leaves or else we'll be trapped here with that monster." Roy shook his head, still hunched over at the waist, desperately trying to work air into his laboring lungs. "What do you mean, 'no?'! The entire reason for coming to the Northeast was to go to Fallen Grove to see if we can save those people who were captured and find out why the others were killed. We won't be able to do anything if we're killed."

"I'm not leaving…. without... my men...," Roy panted out before standing up and looking him dead in the eye," I will leave no one behind."

Kasai stared at Roy in complete shock as he let his words sink in.

"Colonel," both Roy and Kasai turned to look at Riza, "we should keep moving. It will be easier to find the others if we don't have to bother with Archer along the way."

Roy nodded and they moved towards the center of the town. 'I wonder if the others are having as much trouble as we are.'

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Falling against the nearest wall, Brosh reached up to finger the new scratch on his cheek. Looking back up, he saw that Tetsu had changed her sights again, this time to Falman.

Her sadistic smile widened as Falman stumbled and fell to the ground. Shooting out a spike that could have easily pierced his heart, Falman narrowly rolled out of the way before it could strike. While his evasion would have upset a normal killer, it only made Tetsu laugh with glee. She was like a cat, toying with its prey before the kill.

Brosh looked over to Ross who was standing out of the way of the current fight. Not only was there danger because she was unarmed and slightly disoriented, due to her captors treatment, but unlike the men, Tetsu wouldn't bother with toying with her: She'd go right for the kill. Not only was she an easier target, but it took a lot of strategy to get Tetsu to avoid her. 'Damn, she's in danger here. What can we do?'

"Sergeant Brosh," Fuery called out snapping him out of his thoughts, "Are you okay?"

"I was just thinking. 2nd Lieutenant Ross is at high risk given the current circumstances. She needs to get out of here."

Fuery shook his head, "That would only put her alone with that cloaked guy."

"Damn, we have to think of something," Brosh's brow furrowed as he thought about it. "Couldn't one of us go with her and distract the guy while she gets to safety outside."

"That's a good idea, but," gesturing towards Tetsu and Falman, "we'll have to distract her first."

Thinking about it for a moment Brosh moved away from the wall. "I have an idea. You take her and go."

Before Fuery could say anything, Brosh ran forward and pointed to the far wall, "Look, a snipe!"

Tetsu rolled her eyes. "I'm not falling for that one again. I'm not stupid."

Brosh, about to panic was interrupted by Falman, "That's not a snipe; it's a Red-crested Pochard. Odd though. It should have flown south for the winter by now."

"Huh?" Brosh and Tetsu asked in unison.

"The bird." Falman pointed, "Over in the window."

"Re…really?" Tetsu quickly turned to the window to see a small duck-like bird with a brightly colored red head. "Oh wow, it's so pretty."

Brosh, though stunned for a few seconds, signaled for Ross and Fuery to escape. Moving to the doorway the two quickly darted out into the other room.

Tetsu shook her head and turned back to Falman and Brosh. "Anyway, back to the fun." She paused and looked around the room. "Where'd that annoying woman and the cute guy with the glasses go?" Before the two could come up with an answer, Tetsu dismissed her own question with a huff and a shrug. "Oh well, I'll just have my fun with you and find them later."

Fuery peered around the edge of the door once more before moving on towards the warehouse's exit.

"C'mon, 2nd Lieutenant, this way." He moved forward a few steps but stopped when he saw Ross staring into the main part of the room that was surrounded by the metal crates. "What is it?" Moving up next to her, he saw the cloaked man, Nos Rosuto, standing in the center in a trance-like state. Though his lips were moving, no words could be heard. "What is he doing?"

Ross's eyes narrowed, taking in the scene, "It looks like he's is chanting something."

"Chanting?" Fuery asked. "Didn't the spider lady say something about him moving cargo? He's not doing anything remotely similar to that."

Ross nodded, equally perplexed. 'What is going on here?'

Hearing a chuckle from the man, the two ducked lower fearing that they had been caught.

"My, my. Looks like we've got visitors all over town. Guess I should send the welcoming committee." He smirked shortly before returning to his chant.

"Visitors?" Fuery asked aloud. "Oh no, the Colonel and the others."

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"Damn, where is everybody? Did they decide to play hide and seek?" Havoc yelled at the empty street while rubbing his arms from the coming evening's chill. "At this rate we'll miss the train and have to wait a day.

"2nd Lieutenant Havoc," Armstrong voice called out down the road. "Come look at this atrocity!"

Havoc walked over to see Armstrong bent over some kind of dead animal. "What is it?"

"It looks like a chimera of some sort, but it appears to have been shot to death."

"All perfect shots to the vitals. Lieutenant Hawkeye's work for sure." He looked around before moving towards a shop on the side of the road. Inside he saw the remains of a soldier surrounded in fresh blood. "Poor guy must have been that creature's snack." About to stand up and move away, Havoc was startled to see the body move slightly causing more blood to come out of the it's wounds. It twitched a bit more before it moved no more. "That was weird. Hey, Armstrong we'd better go and find the Colonel before…," turning Havoc could not complete his sentence at the sight he saw.

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After finding the old man dead, Breda had run back to the train to find anyone that could help. The only ones he could find were the Conductor and the workers who shovel the coal. They, too, thought it was rather odd that all the station's workers had suddenly disappeared.

"I know that there were people, they were loading crates onto the train earlier." One of the workers, a tall, muscular man, said.

"I know, they loaded our luggage on the train earlier." Breda looked back towards the town.

"Your party is still not back yet? That's not good. Missing workers and dead man aside, this train has to leave at 5:30 sharp." The conductor, an older, short man, said.

"I know you normally wait until that time, but couldn't you make an exception? It's very important for us to reach Fallen Grove and having to wait an entire day will hurt the investigation." Breda tried his best to reason with the older man but he continued to shake his head.

"I'm sorry, but if your party is not back by 5:30, we will have to leave them behind. The people of Fallen Grove are expecting these supplies tonight. If we are not on time, there might be trouble."

Breda sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, I'll go and try to find them."

The second worker, shorter than the other man but just as muscular, stepped forward. "We'd help but we've gotten prepare the train's coal and water supply for departure."

"I understand." He saluted and watched the three men return to the train's engine room before turning to leave. "I wonder what's in this town that's taking everyone so long."

"Do you need help with something, sir?" Breda stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of the familiar voice. Turning to the stations counter, he saw the old man sitting there smiling, just as he had been when they had first arrived. "Are you still waiting for your friends?"

Breda pulled out his gun and aimed at the man. "What are you?"

"Excuse me?" The man's smile never faltered even when faced with the gun.

"Don't play with me. You were dead just a few minutes ago. What are you? Are you homunculi?"

"What are you talking…," the man's words were cut off by bullet going through his head forcing his body back. No blood came from the wound, having long been dried up.

Though the bullet had been a direct hit, Breda kept his sight aimed for another shot if needed. After a few moments the man returned to his original position, smile still in place. Breda startled and took a step back only to come it contact with another body. Jumping to the side and spinning around, he saw a one of the missing workers behind him.

Reaching out, Breda ripped a part of the man's uniform away revealing that his flesh was also rotting away, obvious signs of a decaying corpse. Aiming, he shot another bullet, this time directly into the center of the worker's heart. The body moved back a little but did little to stop the man from moving towards Breda again.

"My, my. Looks like you have a violent nature, young man," The old man said from his seat. "You're just like those other soldiers that came through earlier this week." Breda's eyes snapped back to the old man realizing that he was talking about General Hakuro's troops. "Of course, those that stayed behind are now sided with us."

"What…what are you talking about?" Breda stammered moving his eye contact around as he noticed more and more people showing up from seemingly nowhere.

"Don't worry," the man's smile widened, "you'll be joining us soon, as well."

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"You're from Central." Armstrong said to the battered, uniformed men who gathered around him. They said nothing, just stood still, heads down.

Havoc moved out of the building and stood next to Armstrong. "What happened to all of you? Your uniforms are soaked with blood." His eyes came to rest on one soldier whose arm had been torn off. "Ah, we need to find you a doctor."

Armstrong put an arm out to prevent him from moving further out. "Lieutenant Havoc, something is not right here."

Before Havoc could question his actions, a growl from behind caught their attention. Turning around, they could see that the once dead chimera was slowly getting back up onto its feet, blood pouring from its recent wounds.

The once still soldiers also started moving towards the two.

"Damn, looks like we're in trouble." Havoc pulled out his gun and checked to see if it was loaded.

Pulling on his gauntlets and removing his shirt, Armstrong nodded.

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Breda mentally counted the continually growing number of men surrounding him. He only had three rounds of bullets with him. The rest of the ammunition they had brought had already been loaded onto the train. Not that it would help much, given the results he'd already seen.

"Are you homunculi?" He asked the old man again, his voice calmer than before.

"No. These men, those soldiers, and I are not homunculi." He stated calmly still smiling.

"Then what are you?"

The man's smile softened startling Breda somewhat. "Human."

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End Chapter 6

Sorry, lot's of running around in this chapter, but it's needed to for the story to run smoothly. Please Read and Review. I like to hear what people think of the story. Constructive criticism is welcomed but if you can point out if I've done something terribly wrong.


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